YouTube has agreed to a $24.5 million settlement[1] in the case brought by President Donald Trump after the platform blocked[2] him from posting videos in the aftermath of the Capitol riot in January 2021. The deal, filed in a California federal court, ends years of back and forth between Trump’s lawyers and the Google-owned company, and it brings to a close the last of three lawsuits Trump launched against major social media firms over his account bans.
How the money is divided
Alphabet, YouTube’s parent, will transfer $24.5 million into the trust account of Trump’s lawyers. Of that sum, $22 million is set aside for Trump himself, though the filing shows he has directed the payment to the Trust for the National Mall. The trust is tied not just to preservation of monuments in Washington but also to the large ballroom being planned at the White House. That ballroom is projected to take up 90,000 square feet and is estimated to cost around $200 million, with the paperwork describing it as expected to be completed well before Trump’s current term ends in January 2029.
The balance of the settlement, $2.5 million, will be distributed to the other plaintiffs in the case. These include the American Conservative Union, which organizes the CPAC conference, and author Naomi Wolf, both of whom joined Trump’s legal action in 2021 when the platforms first cut off his accounts.
Settlement terms
The filing makes clear that YouTube and Alphabet are not admitting liability. The agreement specifies that the settlement and dismissal cannot be used as evidence against the company in any other legal or administrative action. The dismissal is “with prejudice,” which means the case cannot be filed again. It was entered under Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a provision that allows cases to be closed voluntarily when both sides sign off.
How the case unfolded
Trump’s YouTube channel was suspended on January 12, 2021, just days after he spoke to supporters before the violence at the Capitol. At the time, YouTube said it was worried about the ongoing potential for violence. The channel wasn’t erased but the suspension stopped him from uploading new videos. That restriction stayed in place for more than two years before being lifted in March 2023.
Trump filed lawsuits against YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter in July 2021, arguing that the bans were unlawful and part of a wider attempt to curb conservative voices online. The YouTube case was slowed by court delays and was administratively closed in 2023. After Trump returned to the White House earlier this year, his legal team moved to reopen the matter, and it eventually led to this week’s agreement.
Other settlements already made
Meta, which owns Facebook, reached its own settlement in January, agreeing to pay $25 million. Most of that sum was directed toward a fund for Trump’s presidential library in Miami. In February, Twitter, now rebranded as X, settled with Trump for around $10 million. Together with YouTube’s deal, the total settlement payments across the three companies come to nearly $60 million.
Political reactions in Washington
The size and nature of the settlements have drawn scrutiny. In August, several Democratic senators sent a letter to Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai and YouTube chief executive Neal Mohan. They warned that such deals could create the appearance of political bargaining at a time when the administration is already facing questions over the influence of large technology firms. Their letter suggested that settlements of this kind might even raise concerns under competition and consumer protection law, and possibly federal bribery statutes, if they were seen as linked to policy outcomes.
Where it leaves both sides
For YouTube, the settlement avoids a prolonged court fight and does not require it to change its policies. For Trump, the payout adds to the stream of money flowing from the three companies he sued, while channeling a significant share of it into projects connected with his presidency.
Notes: This post was edited/created using GenAI tools. Image: DIW-Aigen.
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References
- ^ $24.5 million settlement (storage.courtlistener.com)
- ^ blocked (x.com)
- ^ OpenAI Expands Its Reach: Shopping, Social Video, and Safety Tools for Teens (www.digitalinformationworld.com)