Meta to Pay $25M to Settle Trump’s Lawsuit Over Social Media Ban

News Desk

Islamabad: Meta Platforms announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to pay approximately $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump over the suspension of his social media accounts following the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack.

In July 2021, Trump filed lawsuits against Twitter (now X), Facebook, and Google’s parent company Alphabet, along with their executives, alleging that the tech giants unlawfully suppressed conservative viewpoints.

Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended after his supporters stormed the Capitol, following his speech where he repeated false claims of election fraud.

Under the terms of the settlement, $22 million will be allocated to a fund for Trump’s presidential library, with the remaining funds directed to legal fees and other plaintiffs involved in the case.

Meta filed a notice about the settlement in a federal court in San Francisco. The lawsuit, which had made little progress since the fall of 2023, gained traction after a meeting between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in November, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Meta has been working to repair its relationship with Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the company’s political content policies and even threatened Zuckerberg with imprisonment. In December, Meta made a notable contribution of $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.

Additionally, Meta made significant shifts in its approach by ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in January, scrapping its US fact-checking initiative, and loosening restrictions on sensitive topics like immigration and gender identity.

The company also appointed Republican Joel Kaplan as its chief global affairs officer and added Dana White, the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and a close Trump ally, to its board.