Meta to pay President Donald Trump $25m after suspending his accounts
Meta has settled with the US President over a 2021 lawsuit
👩⚖️ Meta has settled with President Trump over his 2021 lawsuit
🛑 Trump sued Meta after the company suspended his online accounts
😡 The suspension came after the January 6 riots
🤝 Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg has since made amends with Trump
Meta has agreed to pay a $25 million settlement to President Donald Trump over a 2021 lawsuit he filed after the company suspended his accounts after the January 6 insurrection.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, $22 million of the settlement will go toward a fund for Trump’s presidential library, with the rest going to legal feels and other plaintiffs.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the settlement to Wall Street Journal, though isn’t admitting any wrongdoing.
The settlement has been criticized by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass), who said: “It looks like a bride and a signal to every company that corruption is the name of the game. After Meta pays to play, what does Mark Zuckerberg expect as a return on this investment?”
Mark Zuckerberg and thusly Meta’s stance on Trump has changed dramatically recently. Zuckerberg was in attendance at the President’s inauguration, along with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Zuckerberg apparently tried to make amends with Trump in November of last year, and has since released a video outlining Facebook and Instagram’s new approach to censorship, which is radically different from before.
Meta wasn’t the only social media platform sued by President Trump. Twitter, now renamed X, and YouTube were also sued. A federal judge dismissed the Twitter suit, and the suit against Google was administratively closed in 2023 but could be reopened.
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.