Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Agrees to Pay Trump a Huge Settlement in Censorship Lawsuit
President Donald Trump has reportedly signed a roughly $25 million settlement agreement with Meta over the social media company’s decision to suspend his accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion.
In July 2021, Trump sued Facebook, Twitter, and Google to have his social media accounts reinstated. All have since done so.
In February 2023, Meta restored Trump’s Facebook and Instagram pages, according to the Associated Press.
Regarding the settlement with the president, The Wall Street Journal reported, “$22 million will go toward a fund for Trump’s presidential library, with the rest going to legal fees and the other plaintiffs who signed onto the case. Meta won’t admit wrongdoing, the people said. Trump signed the settlement agreement Wednesday in the Oval Office.”
Discussions about a settlement “began after Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg flew to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to dine with him in November, according to the people familiar with the discussions. The dinner was one of several efforts by Zuckerberg and Meta to soften the relationship with Trump and the incoming administration,” the Journal said.
🚨 #BREAKING: Meta and Mark Zuckerberg have agreed to pay President Trump $25 MILLION for unjustly suspending his account in 2021
$22 million of that will go toward Trump’s Presidential Library
So now, ABC and Meta alone have funded Trump’s library to the tune of $37 MILLION 🤣… pic.twitter.com/c1Gl6sBTJl
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 29, 2025
Zuckerberg’s Meta has taken several steps toward Trump’s Make America Great Again movement since November’s election.
The company made public earlier this month that it was ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, policies.
Zuckerberg also announced that Meta was ending what he described as its “politically biased” fact-checker program in favor of a community notes model like the one used on social media platform X.
Additionally, Meta pledged $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund and placed UFC president Dana White, a Trump ally, on its board of directors.
On an investors call Wednesday, Zuckerberg said, “We now have a U.S. administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning and that will defend our values and interests abroad,” according to CNBC.
“I am optimistic about the progress and innovation that this can unlock, so this is going to be a big year,” he said.
Mark Zuckerberg starts Meta earnings call by praising Trump administration https://t.co/cbB0MdpcOX
— CNBC Tech (@CNBCtech) January 29, 2025
The Financial Times reported, “Mark Zuckerberg is exploring buying a property in Washington DC, according to two people familiar with the matter, as Meta’s billionaire founder steps up his efforts to shape US President Donald Trump’s approach to the technology sector.
“Zuckerberg has said he is aiming to make Meta, which has a market capitalisation of $1.7tn, the ‘leader’ in AI, battling rivals such as OpenAI, Google and Microsoft,” according to the Times.
Last week, Trump announced a $500 billion investment by the private sector called Stargate, to be built in Texas.
Trump said Stargate will build “the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of AI.”
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