YouTube is offering amnesty of sorts, providing those who were kicked off the platform for policy violations a “second chance.” Last week, the Google-owned streamer agreed to pay a $24.5 million settlement to President Donald Trump, who sued over suspension of his YouTube account following the January 2021 U.S. Capitol riots. “We know that our long-held approach of enforcing lifetime terminations can be difficult for creators,” YouTube explained in a blog post highlighting more than $100 billion paid out to creators, artists and media companies through the YouTube Partner Program over the past four years.

“But not everyone who’s been kicked off the platform will be welcomed back,” reports Variety, explaining that “channels terminated for copyright infringement or other serious violations aren’t eligible.” Among the banned creators eligible for reinstatement are “those who ran afoul of now-retired policies prohibiting misinformation about the 2020 U.S. presidential election and COVID-19,” Variety adds.

“Appeals are evaluated based on a number of factors, including whether the policy in question is retired from our Community Guidelines,” YouTube notes in a blog post. “We’ve heard loud and clear from our creator community that they want more options to return.” Based on that information, they put together what they’re calling “a pilot program to offer some qualified creators an opportunity to rebuild their presence.”

However, YouTube contextualizes that “the majority of appealed decisions are upheld, meaning many creators reached the end of the road.”

YouTube’s new pilot reinstatement path “is separate from its already existing appeals process” CNBC points out. Those whose appeals are unsuccessful can now request a new channel through an option appearing when they log into YouTube Studio on desktop using credentials from their terminated channel, but that window is only open for one year after the termination in question went into effect.

“Approved creators under the new process will start from scratch, with no prior videos, subscribers or monetization privileges carried over,” CNBC reports.

“YouTube’s ‘second chance’ process fits with a broader trend at Google and other major platforms to ease strict content moderation rules imposed in the wake of the pandemic and the 2020 election,” CNBC writes.