Tech Platforms and a High‑Profile Settlement

On September 29, 2025, YouTube, the video platform owned by Alphabet Inc., agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Donald J. Trump that challenged his suspension after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The litigation, which began in 2021, had implicated several major technology companies and was disclosed in a court filing shortly before an October 6 hearing.

Of the total settlement, $22 million will be contributed to the Trust for the National Mall to support construction of a White House State Ballroom, while $2.5 million will be divided among other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union and author Naomi Wolf. YouTube did not admit wrongdoing, and the company’s rules and products will not be changed as part of the agreement. Trump’s YouTube account, which was suspended in 2021, was reinstated in 2023.

This resolution follows earlier deals in 2025 in which Meta agreed to pay about $25 million and X paid roughly $10 million to end parallel suits. Although commentators had doubted the legal strength of the claims, the parties opted to resolve disputes through payment rather than protracted trials, a choice that ended the cases without a court judgment on the merits.

Taken together, the settlements bring closure to a set of high-profile disputes over content moderation and platform authority. Both the allocation of funds to a nonprofit tied to a White House project and the distribution to other plaintiffs illustrate how complex litigation outcomes can be structured to achieve settlement without admission of liability.