YouTube has agreed to a substantial $24.5 million settlement with former President Donald Trump and other individuals whose accounts were suspended from the platform. This agreement comes in the wake of the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, which led to widespread content moderation actions across social media.
Following the Capitol riot, YouTube initially froze Mr. Trump’s account, preventing him from uploading new videos. The platform cited concerns that his content could incite further violence. In response, Mr. Trump initiated a lawsuit against YouTube in October 2021, alongside other social media companies, alleging wrongful censorship.
According to a legal document filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the bulk of the settlement — $22 million — is allocated to Mr. Trump. He has designated these funds for philanthropic purposes: contributing to the Trust for the National Mall and supporting the construction of a new ballroom at the White House. The remaining $2.5 million will be distributed among other plaintiffs involved in the case, including writer Naomi Wolf and the American Conservative Union.
John Coale, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, commented on the settlement, stating, “If he hadn’t been re-elected, we’d be in court forever. Then the president gets re-elected and things look a lot better.” A YouTube representative chose not to provide a comment regarding the settlement, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
This settlement marks the latest in a series of efforts by major technology and media companies to conclude costly legal disputes with Mr. Trump. He has frequently accused social media platforms of censorship and media organizations of defamation. Earlier this year, Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram) settled a similar lawsuit with Mr. Trump for $25 million in January. X (formerly Twitter, owned by Elon Musk) paid approximately $10 million in February to resolve a dispute stemming from the 2021 suspension of Mr. Trump’s account.
Traditional media companies have also reached agreements with Mr. Trump. Paramount, for instance, paid $16 million in July to settle a lawsuit over the editing of a CBS “60 Minutes” interview. ABC News agreed to a $15 million settlement in December for a defamation case brought by Mr. Trump against the network and its anchor, George Stephanopoulos.
In recent months, Mr. Trump and his administration have intensified pressure campaigns against those they perceive as adversaries. These include law firms associated with Democratic causes, prominent universities, and media figures such as Jimmy Kimmel. Just this month, Mr. Trump sued The New York Times for $15 billion in damages, though that lawsuit was dismissed, with the possibility of refiling.
Prior to these recent settlements, Mr. Trump’s lawsuits against social media companies had largely stalled. A federal judge dismissed the case against Twitter in 2022, and similar lawsuits against Meta and YouTube had been placed on hold. However, X reinstated Mr. Trump’s account shortly after Elon Musk’s acquisition in 2022, and both YouTube and Meta followed suit by restoring his accounts in 2023.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, suggested these settlements might be seen as “buying influence,” noting that the companies “do seem like they are currying favor with the presidential administration.”
For Alphabet, YouTube’s parent company, the $24.5 million settlement represents a relatively minor expense. In the second quarter alone, Alphabet reported $9.7 billion in revenue from YouTube ads. Alphabet executives have been actively engaging with the White House since Mr. Trump’s inauguration, working to improve a previously strained relationship. Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s CEO, and Sergey Brin, a Google co-founder, recently attended a White House dinner focused on artificial intelligence. Mr. Brin’s partner, wellness influencer Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto, publicly praised the YouTube settlement on Instagram, calling the previous censorship an “abomination.”
Last week, YouTube also announced that it would reinstate content creators who had been banned for violating misinformation policies related to Covid and the 2020 election. Additionally, the streaming service plans to relax some of its content moderation guidelines. These changes come amid an investigation by Republican lawmakers scrutinizing whether social media companies restricted speech under pressure from the Biden administration. Mr. Coale, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, confirmed that while these policy shifts were part of discussions during settlement talks, they were not a formal condition for the agreement. He concluded, “It’s better than it was back then. There’s no government now pushing them to do anything, and I think that will stay in the future, no matter who wins the White House.”