YouTube, a subsidiary of Alphabet (GOOGLE), has consented to pay $24.5 million to resolve a lawsuit initiated by former U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the suspension of his account following the January 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol, as revealed in a court document on Monday.
This agreement marks Google as the final major tech company to settle the lawsuits Trump filed in July 2021, in which he accused them of unlawfully suppressing conservative voices.
In addition to Google, Trump also filed lawsuits against Twitter, now rebranded as X, and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, along with their respective CEOs in July 2021.
Earlier this year, both Meta and X reached agreements to settle their lawsuits.
As part of the YouTube settlement, $22 million will be allocated on Trump’s behalf to the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit organization that, according to the filing, is focused on constructing a $200 million ballroom that Trump is developing at the White House.
The 90,000-square-foot (8361.27 square meters) facility is anticipated to be finished “well before” the conclusion of Trump’s four-year term in January 2029.
The remaining funds will be distributed to other plaintiffs involved in the case, including the American Conservative Union, which organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference, and U.S. author Naomi Wolf.
YouTube has not acknowledged any wrongdoing and will not implement any changes to its products or policies as part of this settlement.
While Trump did not lose access to his YouTube account in 2021, he was prohibited from uploading new videos; his account was reinstated in 2023.
In January, Meta agreed to pay approximately $25 million, while X settled for around $10 million in February to resolve similar lawsuits filed by Trump.
Meta’s settlement allocated $22 million for a fund dedicated to Trump’s future presidential library in Miami, Florida.
