Meta Settles Lawsuit with Trump for $25 Million Over Account Ban

Meta has agreed to pay Donald Trump $25 million to settle a lawsuit he filed against them. Trump claimed that Facebook and Instagram wrongfully banned him after the events at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. This news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, describing it as a win for Trump.

Of the total settlement amount, $22 million will go toward building Trump’s future presidential library. The rest will cover legal fees and payments to other people involved in the lawsuit.

Meta, in agreeing to this settlement, won’t admit they did anything wrong when they suspended Trump’s accounts. Trump has often criticised social media platforms for blocking him after his comments during the Capitol riot.

Recently, Trump has been connecting with technology leaders like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and X’s Elon Musk, both of whom attended his presidential inauguration last week.

Zuckerberg has shown support for Trump and recently changed Meta’s rules to relax restrictions on some content across its apps like Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp. Zuckerberg said this month that they are rolling back some fact-checking efforts to promote “free expression” on their platforms.

This settlement is part of broader actions by media companies preparing for the possibility of Trump becoming president again. For example, ABC News paid Trump $15 million in December to settle a defamation lawsuit about comments made by one of their anchors.

On the same day this settlement was announced, Meta reported that its net income for the year had increased by 59 percent, reaching $62.36 billion.