Google-owned YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million in the United States to settle a lawsuit initiated by former President Donald Trump after his account was suspended following the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The settlement, which had been ongoing for over four years, designates $22 million for Trump to donate to the Trust for the National Mall and the construction of a White House ballroom, as per court documents filed on Monday. The remaining amount will be distributed to other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union.
This settlement is part of a trend where major tech companies are resolving lawsuits involving Trump. In January, Meta settled a lawsuit by paying $25 million concerning Trump’s suspension from Facebook in 2021. Similarly, Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, settled a comparable lawsuit for $10 million. Legal experts had initially predicted that Trump had slim chances of success in the lawsuits against Meta, Twitter, and YouTube.
The settlement with YouTube does not imply an admission of liability, as stated in the filing. While Google confirmed the settlement, it refrained from providing further comments on the matter. Trump’s YouTube account has been reinstated since 2023. The financial impact on Google’s parent company, Alphabet, which boasts a market value of nearly $3 trillion, has been minimal. The company’s value has surged by approximately $600 billion, a 25% increase, since Trump’s return to the White House.
The disclosure of the settlement occurred a week before an October 6 court hearing scheduled to address the case with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers in Oakland, California.
