YouTube to pay US$24.5 million to settle Trump account suspension lawsuit
Trump brought the legal action against the company after his account was suspended following the US Capitol riots in January 2021
Alphabet-owned YouTube has agreed to pay US$24.5 million to settle a lawsuit that US President Donald Trump brought against the company over the suspension of his account following the January 2021 US Capitol riots, a court filing showed on Monday.
The deal makes Google the last of the three big tech companies to resolve lawsuits Trump brought in July 2021 accusing them of unlawfully silencing conservative viewpoints.
Trump had also sued Twitter, now known as X, and Facebook owner Meta, as well as Alphabet’s Google, and their chief executives in July 2021.
Meta and X agreed earlier this year to pay to settle the lawsuits.
Under the YouTube settlement, US$22 million will be paid on Trump’s behalf to the Trust for the National Mall, a non-profit organisation that the filing says is dedicated to the construction of a US$200 million ballroom that Trump is building at the White House.
Work on the facility is expected to be completed “long before” Trump’s four-year term ends in January 2029.