Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit over the suspension of the US President's social media accounts in 2021. Of that, $22 million will go to Mr. Trump's Presidential Library Foundation, with the rest going to legal fees and other plaintiffs.
The lawsuit began in July 2021 when Mr. Trump sued Twitter (now X), Facebook, Google and their executives, accusing them of illegally blocking conservative views.
His Facebook and Instagram accounts were locked after the events of January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol and at the same time, he posted a claim of election defeat due to fraud.
The deal was filed by Meta in federal court in San Francisco (USA) after a period of stagnation since the fall of 2023. According to the Wall Street Journal, negotiations were restarted after CEO Mark Zuckerberg went to Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in November 2024 for dinner.
Meta appears to be trying to improve its relationship with the US President after Mr. Trump repeatedly criticized the company’s political content policies and threatened to jail Mark Zuckerberg. In addition to the $25 million settlement, Meta also announced a $1 million donation to Mr. Trump’s inauguration fund in December 2024, breaking with past practice.
Mark Zuckerberg's company also made other notable moves, such as ending its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program in early January, canceling its fact-checking program in the US, and loosening restrictions on discussions of politics, immigration, and gender.
Meta also appointed Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican, as its director of global affairs, and brought Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and a close friend of Mr. Trump, to its board of directors.
