Meta Settles Trump Lawsuit Over Account Suspension, Agrees To Pay Trump $25M

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Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta has settled a lawsuit from President Donald Trump for $25 million over suspended social media accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, NBC News reported.

A notice of the settlement was filed in federal court in San Francisco, where Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed Trump will receive a $25 million payment from the company in addition to $22 million toward Trump’s presidential library fund and legal fees. The settlement also does not require Meta to admit to any wrongdoing.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg has switched from silencing the 47th president on social media platforms to being seen front and center at the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20. Hours later, he hosted a party in Trump’s honor. Meta has overturned its content moderation policies – and DEI policies – to align more closely with the Trump administration. New policies allow insults towards the LGBTQ+ community and the termination of its independent U.S. fact-checking program. Instead, the company will move toward an model like the one used by X, owned by Elon Musk, with a “community notes” system instead.

Zuckerberg also promoted longtime Republican and former White House chief of staff Joel Kaplan to be the company’s chief of global policy, according to CNN.

Meta is the second major corporation to have to dish out payments to the indicted president to settle a lawsuit since winning the 2024 election. In December 2024, ABC announced a payment of $15 million to end a dispute where Trump accused anchor and veteran White House appointee George Stephanopoulos of defaming him.

Zuckerberg was one of many vocal critics of the Jan. 6 attacks and Trump’s refusal to condemn his supporters. On Jan. 7, 2021, the tech guru said Trump “intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden.” Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts remained locked until February 2023.

The President wasn’t always a fan of The Social Network movie subject either. Shortly before the 2024 election and Zuckerberg’s inauguration appearance, Trump published a book of photographs in August 2024, threatening that the Silicon Valley CEO would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he did “anything illegal” to influence the presidential election.

Zuckerberg’s switch-up has caught the attention of many critics, including Jesse Eisenberg, the actor who played him in the 2010 film. During a podcast appearance, the actor said he is sad about the CEO’s decision to scrap the fact-checking system and says he can no longer defend him. “And now that the platform is so powerful and owns all these other things, I guess I feel a little bit sad,” he said.

“Why is this the path you’re taking?”