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By Gabe Whisnant
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Alphabet-owned YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump over the suspension of his account following the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, a court filing showed Monday.
Why It Matters
The agreement makes Google the last of the major tech platforms to resolve suits Trump filed in July 2021 alleging they unlawfully silenced conservative viewpoints. Trump had sued Twitter, now X, and Facebook owner Meta, along with Alphabet’s Google and their chief executives.
Read More on Politics
Meta and X reached settlements earlier this year, with Mark Zuckerberg's Meta agreeing to pay about $25 million in January and Elon Musk's X agreeing to pay roughly $10 million in February in separate cases.
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What to Know
YouTube suspended Trump’s channel in January 2021 after the U.S. Capitol riot, removing a video and blocking new uploads while saying the content violated its policies against inciting violence.
YouTube’s leadership said the restriction would remain until the company determined the “risk of real-world violence” had decreased. The channel was later reinstated in 2023 after YouTube said it had carefully evaluated that risk.
Under the YouTube settlement, $22 million will be paid on Trump’s behalf to the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit the filing says is building a $200 million ballroom at the White House. Meta’s settlement designated $22 million for a fund tied to Trump’s planned presidential library in Miami.
The remaining $2.5 million from the YouTube settlement will go to other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union, which sponsors the Conservative Political Action Conference, and author Naomi Wolf.
YouTube did not admit wrongdoing and will not change products or policies under the settlement. Trump’s account was not permanently removed in 2021 but was suspended from uploading new videos. It was later restored in 2023.
The settlement was disclosed a week before a scheduled Oct. 6 hearing before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers in Oakland to discuss the case.
What People Are Saying
Eric Daugherty, a prominent pro-Trump media personality posted on X, "BREAKING - BIG TRUMP WIN: YouTube agrees to pay $24.5 MILLION to settle a lawsuit over the company suspending President Trump's account following January 6th. This is an ADMISSION it was overt political, unjustified censorship. VICTORY."
John P. Coale, a Trump lawyer and ally, told the Wall Street Journal that Trump’s return to office played a key role in the Big Tech companies settling their cases: “If he had not been re-elected, we would have been in court for 1,000 years. It was his re-election that made the difference.”
Trump critic and liberal media personality Keith Olbermann posted on X, "About the YouTube bribe-of-dressed-as-a-settlement-with Trump: a) do the bullied never learn that the only response the bully understands is the goring of the groin? b) as I say to all trying to start in media, all platforms: just remember - there are NO adults."
What Happens Next
The settlements mark a legal win for Trump and raise questions about how tech companies balance content moderation and accusations of political bias amid pressure from lawmakers and users.
This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
Updates: 9/29/25, 7:15 p.m. ET: This article was updated with new information and remarks.
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