YouTube has reached a settlement regarding a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump in 2021, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The lawsuit was part of a broader set of legal actions Trump initiated against YouTube, Meta (formerly Facebook), and X (previously Twitter) after his suspensions from these platforms. All three companies have now settled with Trump.
As part of the settlement, YouTube will pay $24.5 million, with $22 million designated for The Trust for the National Mall nonprofit, which aims to support the construction of the White House State Ballroom. The remaining $2.5 million will go to other plaintiffs involved in the case. This settlement amount is slightly less than the $25 million settlement that Meta agreed to in January, with reports suggesting that Google executives aimed to keep their settlement lower than Meta’s. X settled for approximately $10 million in February.
Trump’s suspension from YouTube began in January 2021, following the Capitol attack on January 6th. YouTube indicated that the suspension was due to “concerns about the ongoing potential for violence.” The platform lifted these restrictions in March 2023, stating that it had “carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence” while considering the importance of allowing voters to hear from major national candidates ahead of elections.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/787932/youtube-trump-ban-lawsuit-settlement