Facebook parent company Meta will fork over $25 million to settle a lawsuit from President Donald Trump, according to multiple outlets, ending the dispute triggered after the president was suspended from Meta platforms following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack—a move that comes as Meta eases tensions with Trump.
Trump signed the settlement agreement Wednesday. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Meta agreed to pay the roughly $25 million settlement to end the 2021 lawsuit, according to The New York Times, resolving Trump's legal challenge, which argued the social media platform wrongfully censored him when his Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended in the wake of the Capitol attack.
Some $22 million of the settlement figure will go toward Trump’s presidential library while the remainder will be allocated for legal fees and other plaintiffs involved in the case, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the agreement who noted Meta did not admit wrongdoing.
Trump signed the agreement in the White House on Wednesday, according to CNN, which cited an unnamed source who said Trump and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed the lawsuit in November following Trump’s election.
Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were reinstated in Jan. 2023, but one of Trump’s attorneys argued in court a chilling effect remained on the accounts, which were subject to higher-than-usual penalties for repeat offenses.
Meta did not comment on the lawsuit, but did confirm the Journal’s reporting on the matter.
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We estimate Trump’s net worth at $5.8 billion and Zuckerberg’s at $233.6 billion as of Wednesday.
Trump’s Meta accounts were suspended shortly after scores of his supporters rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with Zuckerberg saying at the time Trump had chosen to “use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters. In the summer of 2021, Trump was suspended for two years. His accounts were later reinstated in 2023 with guardrails to deter repeat offenses of Facebook’s policies. Trump was also suspended from Twitter in the wake of the Capitol attack. The account was reinstated in 2022 shortly after tech billionaire and Trump backer Elon Musk took control of Twitter, now known as X. Trump’s social media presence is largely focused on Truth Social, an alternative right-wing social media app owned by Trump Media and Technology Group.
Meta to Pay $25 Million to Settle 2021 Trump Lawsuit (WSJ)
Instagram And Facebook Dropping Trump Restrictions As Election Looms (Forbes)