Post by : Rameen Ariff

US President Donald Trump has reached a $24.5 million settlement with Alphabet-owned YouTube in a lawsuit over the suspension of his account following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots. The settlement, confirmed by a court filing on Monday, marks the last resolution among the three major tech companies that Trump sued in July 2021, claiming they unfairly silenced conservative voices.

Under the agreement, $22 million will be paid on Trump’s behalf to the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit organization supporting the construction of a $200 million White House ballroom. Work on this 90,000-square-foot facility is expected to be completed well before the end of Trump’s four-year term in January 2029. The remaining funds will go to other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union, organizer of the Conservative Political Action Conference, and author Naomi Wolf.

YouTube did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement and confirmed it will not make any changes to its policies or products. Trump’s YouTube account had been suspended in 2021 from uploading new content but was restored in 2023.

Earlier, Trump also filed lawsuits against Twitter (now X) and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, over similar claims of censorship. Meta settled for $25 million in January 2025, and X agreed to a $10 million settlement in February 2025. These settlements were aimed at resolving the allegations that the social media platforms had suppressed conservative viewpoints during and after the 2020 US presidential election.

The lawsuit and subsequent settlements highlight ongoing discussions around freedom of speech, social media censorship, and the accountability of major tech companies in moderating content. Legal experts say the case is significant because it involves a former president taking action against global technology firms over alleged bias in content moderation.

This settlement closes Trump’s legal campaign against the big tech companies, at least in this specific matter, while raising public attention on the balance between platform regulation and free expression.

#world news #Global News #Donald Trump