YouTube to pay $42.4m to settle Trump lawsuit over post-January 6 suspension

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Google-owned video site YouTube will pay US$24.5 million ($42.4m) to settle a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump over the company’s 2021 decision to suspend his account in the wake of the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.

The agreement says that Trump has directed YouTube to contribute US$22m of the settlement to help construct the new White House ballroom. The rest of the money will go to a handful of other plaintiffs who accused YouTube of censoring them.

YouTube at the time it suspended Trump’s account did not say which of its rules he specifically broke but said it was “in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence”.

The settlement follows similar deals earlier this year with social platforms Meta and X, which also suspended or blocked Trump’s accounts after the January 6, 2021, attack, saying he had broken content rules. Meta’s settlement was US$25m, while X agreed to pay US$10m.

Trump returned to YouTube in 2023 after his account was reinstated. A spokesperson for YouTube declined to comment on the settlement.

The settlement underscores how much social platforms have changed their approach to moderation under Trump’s second presidency.

YouTube and other companies previously banned content that claimed Trump had won the 2020 election or told people to mistrust coronavirus vaccines.

The companies largely rescinded those polices as Trump ran for election for president again.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and other tech leaders appeared prominently at Trump’s inauguration in January and donated millions of dollars to his inauguration fund.

YouTube chief executive Neal Mohan held a reception at the inauguration for conservative YouTubers.

The video site hosts many podcasters and influencers who political analysts credit with persuading more young men to vote for Trump last year.

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