Back in 2021, Meta suspended Donald Trump from Facebook over his involvement in the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. In response, Trump filed a federal lawsuit accusing the company of First Amendment violations and other claims—and it looks like he’s just secured a major win in that case.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Meta has agreed to pay Trump a $25 million settlement to resolve the lawsuit, which alleged “impermissible censorship.”
“Meta Platforms has agreed to pay roughly $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit that President Trump brought against the company and its CEO after the social-media platform suspended his accounts following the attack on the U.S. Capitol that year, according to people familiar with the agreement,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
“Of that, $22 million will go toward a fund for Trump’s presidential library, with the rest going to legal fees and the other plaintiffs who signed on to the case. Meta won’t admit wrongdoing, the people said. Trump signed the settlement agreement Wednesday in the Oval Office.”
The Wall Street Journal also noted that negotiations around the lawsuit picked up momentum recently after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had dinner with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida last November. The meeting was reportedly part of Meta’s efforts to rebuild a working relationship with Trump as he took office.
According to the report, Trump made it clear that the lawsuit needed to be resolved before Zuckerberg could be “brought into the tent,” a source told the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to suing Meta, Trump also took legal action against Twitter (now X) and YouTube, along with their parent companies and executives. A federal judge dismissed the case against Twitter, while the lawsuit against Google was administratively closed in 2023.
Needless to say, this news led to a lot of reactions in the comments of the story.
“META will do whatever it takes to stay on Trump’s transactional good side. It’s good for business. Most of these tech CEOs learn well from Tim Cook’s 2017 approach to Trump,” one person wrote in the comments on MSN.
“The Trump name has always been synonymous with lawsuits. Always pursuing attention and sympathy for his grievances and quests to enrich himself while breaking and insulting others. It’s an important tool for the nightmare named Trump,” someone else added.
“What a world! Trump incites an insurrection in which policemen are beaten and some die. Trump is rejected. Trump creates a lawsuit. In the end, his disgusting behavior is rewarded. Sickening. Trump’s term cannot end soon enough,” another person wrote.
“Well, I think this is Zuck cozying up to Trump some more. They had every right to ban whoever they wanted. This is a private concern, Freedom of Speech doesn’t enter into it. This is him making hugs and kisses to Trump,” someone else commented.
“So if I get blocked or suspended by Facebook, I should be entitled to $25 million settlement if I don’t agree with the suspension. And I can guarantee that the reason for my suspension would be for something far less damaging or offensive than what Trump allowed to happen on January 6th,” another commenter added.
Clearly, this settlement suggests a possible step toward improving relations between Trump and Zuckerberg.
