Alphabet will pay $22 million to settle President Trump’s YouTube lawsuit

Alphabet will pay^[1] President Donald Trump $22 million as part of a settlement in a class action lawsuit brought against the company over the suspension of various YouTube accounts following the January 6 riot at the US capital, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal^[2]. The suit includes other plaintiffs whose YouTube channels were banned that will split an additional $2.5 million in settlement payouts.

Trump filed the suit^[3] in 2021, alongside lawsuits against Twitter and Facebook over similar suspensions, claiming they infringed on his first amendment rights. Twitter, now known as X since its acquisition and rebrand by Elon Musk, paid President Trump roughly $10 million to settle that suit. Meta also settled its suit^[4] with the president over his suspension from the platform for $25 million earlier this year.

This settlement comes shortly after Alphabet wrote a letter^[5] to the House Judiciary Committee lambasting government pressure to moderate content on its platforms. The company also shared that YouTube would be offering a path to reinstatement for accounts previously banned for COVID-19 or election integrity related misinformation.

The settlement from Alphabet will be paid to the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, and will be earmarked for construction of the ballroom^[6] that President Trump is building at The White House. The monies from the Meta settlement were similarly earmarked.

This summer Paramount, parent company of CBS, settled a lawsuit^[7] brought by the president over claims that the network intended to “confuse, deceive and mislead the public” by editing an interview with Kamala Harris. The media company paid $16 million to settle the president’s suit. Three weeks later the FCC approved^[8] the $8 billion acquisition of Paramount by Skydance.