YouTube Settles With Trump for $24.5M Over Suspension

YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Trump over the suspension of his account after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Of the total, $22 million will be allocated at Trump's direction to help pay for construction of a new White House ballroom. The remainder will be distributed among other plaintiffs who also accused YouTube, which is owned by Google, of censorship, the Washington Post reports. Meta and X have struck similar deals with Trump. The settlement does not constitute an admission of liability, the filing says, per the AP.

When YouTube suspended Trump's account after the Capitol riot, it cited concerns over the potential for further violence but did not specify which platform rules were violated. Trump's YouTube account was reinstated in 2023, and he returned to the platform. Major social platforms have changed their moderation policies during Trump's second presidential term. Previous bans targeted claims that Trump won the 2020 election or discouraged trust in coronavirus vaccines, but many of those policies were rolled back as Trump sought office again, per the Post. Meta agreed to pay $25 million in its settlement, and X settled for $10 million, both over content moderation actions taken after the Capitol riot.