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YouTube settles Trump lawsuit with $24.5m payout over account suspension

Donald Trump

Settlement makes Google the last major tech firm to resolve Trump’s suits on alleged political bias.

Alphabet-owned YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by former U.S. President Donald Trump over the suspension of his channel following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. A court filing was disclosed on Monday, just a week before a scheduled hearing in Oakland, California.

The deal makes YouTube the last of the major tech platforms to conclude legal battles Trump launched in July 2021, accusing them of unlawfully silencing conservative voices. Earlier this year, Facebook owner Meta reached a settlement worth about $25 million in January, while Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) agreed to pay roughly $10 million in February.

YouTube suspended Trump’s channel in January 2021, citing violations of its policies against inciting violence after the Capitol attack. The platform said uploads would remain restricted until the risk of “real-world violence” had subsided. The suspension lasted until 2023, when the account was reinstated after a reassessment.

Under the terms of the settlement, $22 million will go to the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit currently raising funds for a $200 million White House ballroom project. Another $2.5 million will be distributed among other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union, which organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and author Naomi Wolf.

YouTube did not admit to any wrongdoing and confirmed that the agreement will not affect its policies or products. Trump’s channel, which was never permanently banned, remains active.

Reactions have been divided. Pro-Trump media figures hailed the settlement as proof of political bias by Big Tech, with commentator Eric Daugherty calling it a “BIG TRUMP WIN.”Trump lawyer John P. Coale argued that the former president’s return to office forced companies to resolve the cases, saying, “If he had not been re-elected, we would have been in court for 1,000 years.”

Meanwhile, critics described the settlement as little more than a payoff. Liberal media personality Keith Olbermann posted on X that the deal resembled a “bribe dressed as a settlement.”