Meta agreed to settle a lawsuit Wednesday with President Donald Trump over his 2021 suspension on its social media platforms, the Daily Caller reported. The parent company of Instagram and Facebook will pay Trump $25 million after it deplatformed him following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company will pay $22 million dollars toward Trump's presidential library and give the remainder to the other plaintiffs for their legal expenses. Trump was suspended from the platforms for his supposed role in the Jan. 6 attack.
He was permanently banished from the platforms as of June 2021. "We are today announcing new enforcement protocols to be applied in exceptional cases such as this, and we are confirming the time-bound penalty consistent with those protocols which we are applying to Mr. Trump’s accounts," a statement from Facebook said at the time.
"Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump’s suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules, which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols. We are suspending his accounts for two years, effective from the date of the initial suspension on January 7 this year," it said.
Trump initiated lawsuits not long after the first suspension. His accounts were later restored in February 2023, and Meta announced that it would dispense with the "heightened suspension penalties" on Trump's accounts in July 2024.
Meta, Google, X, and other private tech companies are allowed to moderate content under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. However, many feel that they are not acting in the "good faith" required as they target Trump and other conservatives.
Trump has vowed to pursue these companies, so perhaps it's no coincidence that Zuckerberg has done an about-face since Trump's election. In November, Zuckerberg dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, the Associated Press reported.
The pair likely hashed out the settlement terms that came this week. Meta also donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had a prominent seat for the president's swearing-in earlier this month.
Notably, Trump was thrown off Twitter around the same time, and Elon Musk, the CEO of the platform now called X, also appeared at the inauguration. He was joined by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, signaling a better relationship between the GOP administration and Big Tech.
The winning continues for Trump as he recently received another settlement from ABC News. The network agreed to $15 million for Trump's library following incorrect remarks suggesting that Trump was found civilly liable for raping E. Jean Carroll.
Fox News reported that CBS News may soon settle Trump's $10 billion lawsuit over election interference for selectively editing a 60 Minutes interview in favor of his opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris. A preview of the interview that aired on Face the Nation showed Harris answer a question in her usual word salad.
When the segment aired on the show, her original answer was cut from the program. Producers then spliced in a later remark that sounded like a better answer, thus giving Harris an edge over Trump with unsuspecting viewers.
BREAKING: CBS News is now in settlement talks with President Trump to pay for the election interference they committed when they deceptively edited Kamala Harris's interview to make her look good.
They will pay MILLIONS!
Trump can't stop winning.
pic.twitter.com/auardejZYn— George (@BehizyTweets) January 31, 2025
Trump is finally winning against his partisan and unscrupulous opponents. He's not only made the most spectacular political comeback with his election as president, he's also notching victories against his enemies in Big Tech and the media.
