New York [US], October 1: Alphabet-owned YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump concerning the suspension of his account after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social, called it a "massive victory" for free speech and a blow to Big Tech censorship. He hailed the development as justice for those who have been shadowbanned or removed from social media or digital platforms.
In the post, he said, "YouTube SURRENDERS! Pays President Trump USD24.5 MILLION for illegal ban! This MASSIVE Victory proves BigTech censorship has consequences. Every shadowbanned patriot deserves justice! Trump fought for free speech and Won! Repost if ALL banned conservatives should be paid!"
Donald Trump sued YouTube in October 2021. The lawsuit claimed that YouTube and other social media companies that removed his accounts had wrongfully censored him.
For context, the video content platform banned Trump's account on January 12, 2021, six days after the riots, from uploading new content at the time, citing the potential for violence. The settlement was filed in federal court in Oakland, California, on Sept. 29.
The suspension followed the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot, where YouTube determined that Trump's videos, including those questioning the 2020 election results, risked further inflaming tensions.
Specifically, the Alphabet-owned video platform stated that its policies prohibit content that promotes violence. The ban was indefinite but subject to review, and the US President's account was reinstated in March 2023 after the platform assessed that the risk of real-world harm had diminished.
In the past, Trump had filed similar lawsuits with the other major tech platforms after the re-election in November 2024, and platforms such as Meta and Twitter (formerly X) resolved the cases after similar compensations. YouTube is the last of the big three platforms to settle the case.
According to the publicly available information, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, paid a total of USD 25 million in January 2025, and microblogging platform X settled the claim after paying USD 10 million in February 2025, primarily to resolve account suspension claims.
Source: Times of Oman
