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Mark Zuckerberg-led Meta has agreed to pay President Donald Trump $25 million to settle their 2021 lawsuit. According to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, $22 million of the settlement amount would be directed towards POTUS' presidential library. The remaining money would pay off legal fees and plaintiffs.
The federal lawsuit stemmed from Facebook and Instagram (owned by Meta) suspending Trump's accounts in the wake of the January 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol. The billionaire claimed that it was in violation of his First Amendment right by engaging in "impermissible censorship."
On Wednesday morning, Mark Zuckerberg's lawyer, K. Winn Allen, sent a letter to a San Francisco court saying both "parties have reached an agreement" and would soon ask for the case to be dismissed, as per NPR.
Meta contributed $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund in December 2024
The 2020 U.S. presidential elections resulted in Trump's loss to former president Joe Biden, prompting an insurrection at the Capitol led by Republican supporters. At the time, Trump claimed election fraud, alleging that he won the elections.
As a result, several companies, including Meta's Facebook and Instagram, suspended Trump's account for repeatedly spreading false information. Per a report by The Guardian, the company updated its rules to allow for the suspension of lawmakers and political leaders' accounts in "exceptional cases" during periods of civil unrest and violence.
Initially, he was given the maximum penalty (suspended indefinitely), but a few months later, it was downgraded to two years. In 2023, at the two-year mark, the company allowed Trump to access the platforms.
Needless to say, Trump was not happy. According to The Wall Street Journal, following his 2021 lawsuit, negotiations began in Fall 2023. Meta claimed that the First Amendment applies only to the government's censorship of speech, not "private parties," as per NPR. They claimed that they were acting at the behest of elected officials.
The negotiations started in November 2024, when Zuckerberg dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Per The Guardian, the president reportedly told Zuckerberg that the lawsuit had to be dealt with before he could be "brought into the tent." The CEO returned to Mar-a-Lago again in January 2025 and, shortly after, announced the lifting of restrictions on the platform.
Meta also contributed $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund in December. The company also made policy changes, including ending its DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs, removing fact-checking on its platforms, and relaxing restrictions on sensitive topics.
As per a report by NPR, the company promoted Joel Kaplan, a Republican lobbyist, to head the company's global affairs and elected Trump ally Dana White to the company's board of directors.
Meta was not the only company that Trump sued for suspending his account. He filed a complaint against YouTube, Twitter (now X), and their respective executives. According to a report by The Guardian, a federal judge dismissed the suit against Twitter, while the Google complaint was closed in 2023 (it has the option to be reopened). Google and X both reinstated Trump's access as well.
Neither Trump nor Zuckerberg has publicly commented on the development.
