YouTube to Pay $24.5 Million to Trump in Account Suspension Lawsuit
Google-owned YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by U.S. President Donald Trump over the platform’s 2021 suspension of his account following the January 6 Capitol attack, The Washington Post reported. Under the agreement, Trump directed $22 million of the settlement to fund the construction of a new White House ballroom, while the remaining $2.5 million will be distributed among other plaintiffs, including author Naomi Wolf and the American Conservative Union.
The suspension, which YouTube said was imposed “in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence,” lasted until 2023 when Trump’s account was reinstated. The settlement comes on the heels of similar deals reached earlier this year, with Meta paying $25 million and X (formerly Twitter) paying $10 million over account bans imposed after January 6.
Trump has also extracted settlements from major entertainment and media companies, including Disney, which paid $15 million in December, and Paramount, which paid $16 million in July. Meanwhile, the president continues to pursue lawsuits against other outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, part of his broader legal campaign targeting U.S. institutions he claims have wronged him.
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