YouTube’s owner Google was one of a number of tech giants whom Trump said muzzled him during his first presidency
YouTube has agreed to pay £18.1 million ($US25.1 million) to settle a lawsuit brought by US President Donald Trump brought after the video streaming site suspended his account following the January 6, 2021 attacks on the US Capitol.
The settlement of the more than four-year-old case earmarks 22 million dollars (£16.3 million) for Trump to contribute to the Trust for the National Mall and the construction of a White House ballroom, according to court documents filed on Monday.
Alphabet, the parent of Google, which owns YouTube, is the third major technology company to settle a volley of lawsuits that Trump brought for what he alleged had unfairly muzzled him after his first term as president ended in January 2021.
He filed similar cases against Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Twitter before it was bought by billionaire Elon Musk in 2022 and rebranded as X.
Meta agreed to pay 25 million dollars (£18.6 million) to settle Trump’s lawsuit over his 2021 suspension from Facebook and X agreed to settle the lawsuit that Trump brought against Twitter for 10 million dollars (£7.4 million).
After buying Twitter for 44.5 billion dollars (£32.7 billion), Mr Musk later became a major contributor to Trump’s successful 2024 campaign that resulted in his re-election.
He then spent several months leading a cost-cutting effort that purged thousands of workers from the federal government payroll before he and Trump had a bitter falling out.
The settlement does not constitute an admission of liability, the filing says. Google confirmed the settlement but declined to comment beyond it.
Trump’s YouTube account was restored in 2023.
With AP
