Saturday, March 29, 2025
SAN BRUNO, CALIFORNIA — The video-sharing giant YouTube, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, has agreed to a $24.5 million financial settlement to resolve a legal challenge initiated by US President Donald Trump. The lawsuit was filed in response to the platform’s decision to suspend his account following the January 6, 2021, disturbance at the US Capitol.
The terms of the settlement, confirmed in a Monday court filing, designate the bulk of the funds—$22 million—to be disbursed on President Trump’s behalf. This significant sum will be directed to the Trust for the National Mall, a non-profit overseeing a $200 million renovation project that includes the construction of a ballroom at the White House. The remaining $2.5 million will be distributed among the co-plaintiffs in the case, notably the American Conservative Union and author Naomi Wolf.
The document explicitly states that the agreement contains no admission of fault by YouTube, noting the payment was made solely to “compromise disputed claims and avoid the expenses and risks of further litigation.” For YouTube, which reported nearly $9.8 billion in advertising revenue in the second quarter of 2025 alone, the figure is considered modest.
This resolution mirrors similar agreements reached earlier this year, wherein Meta Platforms and X also paid multi-million dollar amounts to resolve claims of undue censorship brought by the President in the aftermath of the Capitol riot. John P. Coale, the attorney who orchestrated all three cases, stated the total combined settlements for the Big Tech platforms now amount to $60 million, asserting the legal actions successfully influenced corporate behavior.
The settlements are viewed by analysts as part of a strategic shift by major technology firms to align themselves with the administration following President Trump’s return to the White House. This atmosphere of conciliation was recently highlighted by major tech CEOs, including those from Google, Meta, and Apple, who publicly praised the administration at a White House dinner.
