YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump over the suspension of his account in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots.
The settlement, disclosed in a court filing, brings an end to Trump’s cases with the three largest social media companies.
Trump had sued against YouTube, Facebook’s parent company Meta, and X (formerly Twitter) in July 2021. He accused them of unlawfully silencing conservative voices and acting under political pressure. While many legal analysts doubted the cases would succeed, the settlements, now amounting to nearly $60 million, tell a different story.
Under the terms of YouTube’s deal, $22 million will go to the Trust for the National Mall, which is supporting the construction of a $200 million ballroom project at the White House.
The facility, measuring about 90,000 square feet, is expected to be completed before the end of Trump’s current presidential term in January 2029. The remaining funds will be distributed to other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union and author Naomi Wolf.
Unlike Meta and X, YouTube did not admit wrongdoing and will not alter its product or policies. Trump’s YouTube account was suspended in 2021 but restored in 2023.
Meta settled earlier this year, paying $25 million, with $22 million designated for Trump’s planned presidential library in Miami, Florida. X followed in February, paying $10 million. Together, the three settlements represent a financial and strategic victory for Trump, who has directed most of the funds towards legacy-building projects.
The cases also reveal the tensions between governments and major technology companies. Content moderation and accusations of political bias remain flashpoints, not only in the United States but also in countries such as Brazil, India, and across the European Union, where regulators are tightening rules on how platforms handle political speech and misinformation.
Trump, reacting to the settlements, described them as proof of a long-standing bias against conservatives in Silicon Valley. “This is a win for free speech,” he said, insisting that the lawsuits had exposed “the dangerous power” of major tech platforms.
