YouTube became the latest media and tech company to settle one of President Trump\u2019s lawsuits. <\/p>\n
On Monday, YouTube became the latest media and tech company to settle one of President Trump\u2019s lawsuits.<\/p>\n
The Google-owned streamer agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit Trump filed after his account was banned following the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. That brings Trump\u2019s haul from media and tech companies to more than $90 million in the last year.<\/p>\n
Some of these suits deal with conflicts the president has experienced with news networks such as ABC and CBS. Others confront the fallout from the attack on the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n
Some of the settlement money will pay for renovations to a presidential library<\/a> Trump is building on 2.6 acres of waterfront property in Miami.<\/a> Other funds will go to the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall, with the intention of building a Mar-a-Lago-style ballroom<\/a>, which is expected to cost $200 million overall.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a rundown of the payouts:<\/p>\n YouTube: $24.5 million<\/p>\n After the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, YouTube suspended the president\u2019s<\/a> account on the platform because of Trump\u2019s alleged role in the insurrection. At the time, the company had cited \u201cconcerns about the ongoing potential for violence\u201d and violation of its \u201cpolicies for inciting violence.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s lawsuit, filed in 2021 at the U.S. District Court in Northern California, argued the account\u2019s suspension was \u201ccensorship.\u201d Before the case was settled, YouTube had already lifted its suspension on Trump in March 2023,<\/a> in light of the then-upcoming presidential race.<\/p>\n In court documents filed Monday, Alphabet, the parent company of YouTube and Google, did not admit any wrongdoing in the matter. The company did not agree to make any policy or product changes in the deal.<\/p>\n Of the $24.5 million, $22 million is going to Trump, who will contribute the money to the Trust for the National Mall, which is \u201cdedicated to restoring, preserving, and elevating the National Mall\u201d as well as supporting the construction of the White House State Ballroom, according to the filing.<\/p>\n Alphabet will also have to pay an additional $2.5 million to other plaintiffs in the case, including the American Conservative Union and writer Naomi Wolf. <\/p>\n Social media platforms Facebook (now Meta) and Twitter (now X) had suspended Trump\u2019s accounts over Jan. 6, 2021. At the time, Twitter put out a statement, saying that recent tweets from his \u201caccount and the context around them \u2014 specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter\u201d had to be suspended to avoid \u201cthe risk of further incitement of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n Mark Zuckerberg of Meta also posted a statement on Facebook after banning Trump\u2019s Meta accounts. He wrote, \u201cWe believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.\u201d<\/p>\n In July of that year, Trump sued the companies for \u201ccensorship.\u201d<\/p>\n By January 2023, Meta had reinstated Trump\u2019s Facebook and Instagram accounts, as had X in 2022.<\/p>\n Shortly before Trump was going to take office for his second term, in January 2025, Meta decided to pay the incoming president $25 million to settle the lawsuit. Elon Musk, who had purchased Twitter and renamed it \u201cX\u201d in the interim, agreed to pay $10 million to settle its Trump case.<\/p>\n Paramount Global: $16 million<\/p>\n