YouTube to pay £18m to settle lawsuit over Trump’s account suspension
Google’s YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million (approximately £18.1 million) to settle a lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump. The lawsuit arose after YouTube suspended Trump’s account following the January 6, 2021 attacks on the US Capitol.
According to court documents filed on Monday, the settlement, which resolves a more than four-year-old case, allocates $22 million (around £16.3 million) for Trump to donate to the Trust for the National Mall and to fund the construction of a White House ballroom. The remaining $2.5 million (about £1.8 million) will be distributed among other parties involved in the lawsuit, including writer Naomi Wolf and the American Conservative Union.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, becomes the third major tech firm to settle lawsuits initiated by Trump. These lawsuits centered on allegations that the companies unfairly silenced him after his first presidential term ended in January 2021. Trump filed similar lawsuits against Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, and Twitter, now rebranded as X after its acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk in 2022.
Meta agreed to pay $25 million (£18.6 million) to settle Trump’s lawsuit over his 2021 suspension from Facebook. Meanwhile, X settled Trump’s lawsuit concerning Twitter for $10 million (£7.4 million).
When these lawsuits were initially filed, legal experts expressed skepticism about Trump’s chances of success. Notably, after purchasing Twitter for $44.5 billion (£32.7 billion), Elon Musk became a significant contributor to Trump’s 2024 campaign, which resulted in his re-election. Musk also led efforts to reduce federal government payrolls before a subsequent public falling out with Trump.
During Trump’s second inauguration in January, tech leaders including Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed solidarity by publicly supporting the president, signaling an intent for closer cooperation compared to his first term.
The settlement does not imply any admission of liability, according to the court filing. Google confirmed the settlement but declined to comment further. The company also did not explain its reasons for agreeing to the settlement, though Trump’s YouTube account was restored in 2023.
Financially, the settlement will have a minimal impact on Alphabet, which boasts a market value nearing $3 trillion (£2.23 trillion). Since Trump’s return to the White House, Alphabet’s market value has grown by about $600 billion (£446.6 billion), or 25%.
The disclosure of this settlement comes just one week before a scheduled court hearing on October 6 with US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers in Oakland, California.
https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/youtube-to-pay-18m-to-settle-lawsuit-over-trumps-account-suspension-1812779.html
