YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to resolve a suit President Donald Trump filed against the platform for suspending his account after the January 2021 US Capitol riots. A court document revealed on Monday that this agreement renders Google the final of the three major technology firms to settle suits Trump filed in July 2021 alleging that they illegally stifled conservative opinion. Trump had also sued Facebook parent company Meta and Twitter, rebranded as X, as well as their respective chief executives in July 2021.
Meta and X settled earlier this year to shell out money to resolve their lawsuits against Trump. In the YouTube settlement, $22 million will be reimbursed on behalf of Trump to the Trust for the National Mall, a charity that the filing states is committed to constructing a $200 million ballroom Trump is building at the White House. Construction of the 90,000-square-foot building should be finished years before Trump’s four-year term runs out in January 2029.
Money Goes to Trump Projects and Conservative Groups
The balance of the settlement will be paid to other individuals party to the suit, such as the American Conservative Union, which hosts the Conservative Political Action Conference, and US author Naomi Wolf. YouTube did not admit wrongdoing and will not alter products or policy as part of the settlement agreement. This signifies that YouTube settled the case without admitting they did anything wrong and won’t be forced to do anything differently in the future when they run their platform.
Trump did not lose his YouTube account permanently in 2021, but was suspended from posting new videos on the site. The right to post videos was reinstated in 2023, two years after the suspension took place. The suspension followed the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots when Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol building in Washington, DC.
Other Tech Firms Agreed Earlier This Year
Meta in January agreed to pay around $25 million, and X paid around $10 million in February to resolve similar lawsuits filed by Trump against the platforms. Meta’s settlement allocated $22 million to a fund for Trump’s future presidential library in Miami, Florida. These settlements indicate that all three large social media companies that suspended Trump’s account have paid substantial amounts to settle the legal matters.
The suits accused the technology companies of infringing Trump’s free speech rights by deactivating his accounts and taking away his permission to post content. Trump had said the companies were discriminating against conservative opinions when they acted against his accounts. The companies said they were upholding their terms of service rules regarding content that was capable of triggering violence.
News At Glance
- YouTube agreed to pay $24.5 million to resolve Trump’s lawsuit over his 2021 suspension from the platform
- The majority of the funds ($22 million) will be used to construct a ballroom at the White House
- YouTube did not admit fault and won’t alter its policies as part of the settlement
- Meta and X had earlier resolved comparable Trump lawsuits for $25 million and $10 million, respectively
FAQs
1. How much is YouTube paying to settle Trump’s lawsuit?
YouTube is forking over $24.5 million to settle the case.
2. Where will the majority of the settlement funds go?
$22 million will be used for the construction of a $200 million ballroom in the White House.
3. Did YouTube confess that they did something wrong?
No, YouTube did not confess to wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
4. When did Trump’s YouTube account get suspended?
Trump was suspended from posting videos in January 2021 after the riots at the Capitol.
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