Meta has agreed to pay United States President Donald Trump $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit he filed claiming he was wrongfully censored by Facebook and Instagram after the U.S.Capitol riot.
Meta announced this on Wednesday, January 29, 2025.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the settlement of the suit brought against Meta and its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, in what was seen as a victory for Trump.
According to people familiar with the agreement, $22 million of the payment will go towards funding Trump’s future presidential library, with the remainder covering legal fees and payments to other plaintiffs in the case.
Meta in the settlement will not admit wrongdoing over the suspensions of Trump’s accounts.
A spokesperson for Meta confirmed the settlement to AFP.
Trump had widely criticized social media platforms for suspending his accounts after the January 6, 2021, insurrection by his supporters, and comments he made that were seen as praising people engaged in the violence.
But he has recently courted tech titans including Zuckerberg and X owner Elon Musk, both of whom attended Trump’s presidential inauguration last week in Washington D.C.
Zuckerberg has expressed support for Trump, and he has tweaked Meta’s policies to lift restrictions on some content within the company’s apps, which include Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp.
Meta would be “restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg, who reportedly dined with Trump at his Florida estate in November, said this month in announcing a rollback of fact-checking operations.
The settlement is the latest bow by media corporations as they gird for a second Trump presidency.
In December, ABC News agreed to pay a $15 million settlement payment to resolve a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump stemming from on-air comments about him made by a top anchor.
Earlier on Wednesday, Meta reported its net income soared by 59 per cent to $62.36 billion for the full year.
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