Meta pays Trump $25 million for suspending his accounts

Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against the company after it suspended his accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The settlement is the latest example of a major company settling a legal dispute with the president, who has threatened retaliation against his critics and rivals. It comes as Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, seek to court the new Trump administration, like other tech giants.

The people familiar with the deal, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the terms of the agreement include setting aside $22 million for the nonprofit that will become Trump’s future presidential library, while the rest will be used to cover legal fees and other parties in the case.

Zuckerberg visited Trump in November at his private club in Florida, as part of a series of meetings by technology, business and government officials with the new president in Palm Beach to try to mend fences.

During the dinner, Trump referred to the legal issue and suggested finding a solution, which led to the start of two months of negotiations between the two sides, according to the sources.

Meta also made a $1 million donation to Trump's inauguration committee, and Zuckerberg was among a number of billionaires who got premium seats at last week's swearing-in ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda, along with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, the owner of the X platform.

Ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Meta also announced it would eliminate fact-checking on its platforms, a move long demanded by Trump and his allies. Trump filed the lawsuit months after leaving office, calling the social media companies’ actions “illegal and shameful censorship against the American people.”

(Agencies)