YouTube to Pay $24.5M to Settle Trump Lawsuit over Suspending His Account

President Donald Trump has signed settlement papers that will require YouTube to pay $24.5 million to resolve a lawsuit after the company suspended the president’s account in January 2021 following the riot outside of the U.S. Capitol building.

The Washington Post reported that the Google-owned website was directed to put $22 million out of the settlement money towards helping to “construct the new White House ballroom,” while the remaining amount “will go to a handful of other plaintiffs who accused YouTube of censoring them.”

Per the outlet, “the settlement underscores how much social platforms have changed their approach to moderation under Trump’s second presidency”:

The settlement underscores how much social platforms have changed their approach to moderation under Trump’s second presidency. YouTube and other companies previously banned content that claimed Trump had won the 2020 election or told people to mistrust coronavirus vaccines. But the companies largely rescinded those policies as Trump ran for election for president again.

Breitbart News reported that at the time, YouTube said it would be suspending Trump’s account “in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence,” and that it had “removed new content” from his channel.

“After review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to Donald J. Trump’s channel for violating our policies,” the company said at the time.

Breitbart News reported in January that Trump had reached a settlement agreement with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, under which Meta paid roughly $25 million. Out of the $25 million, $22 million was “earmarked for Trump’s presidential library fund,” while the remaining money went towards “covering legal fees and other costs” relating to the case.