TLDRs;
- YouTube will pay $24.5 million to Trump and others suspended after Jan. 6, 2021.
- Trump receives the majority of funds, with smaller shares going to Naomi Wolf and conservative groups.
- The deal follows similar settlements with Meta ($25M) and X ($10M).
- Critics warn the payouts could resemble political “quid-pro-quo” arrangements.
YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to President Donald Trump, ending a years-long legal fight over the suspension of his account following the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
The settlement, confirmed in a filing by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday, marks another major concession from Big Tech firms once embroiled in bitter disputes with Trump.
Settlement Details Finalized
According to court documents, the bulk of the settlement (approximately $22 million) will go directly to Mr. Trump.
Reports indicate he intends to channel much of the payout toward the Trust for the National Mall and the construction of a new ballroom at the White House. The remaining $2.5 million will be split among other plaintiffs, including writer Naomi Wolf and the American Conservative Union.
Importantly, YouTube emphasized in its settlement filing that the agreement does not amount to an admission of liability or wrongdoing. Representatives for YouTube and parent company Alphabet have declined to issue further comments.
Big Tech Concessions Add Up
The payout from YouTube is part of a broader wave of settlements between Trump and Silicon Valley giants. Meta, the parent of Facebook and Instagram, reached a $25 million deal with Trump earlier this year, while Elon Musk’s X agreed in February to pay roughly $10 million to settle its own dispute tied to Trump’s 2021 suspension.
Media organizations have also reached multimillion-dollar agreements with Trump. Paramount paid $16 million in July over an edited “60 Minutes” interview, while ABC News resolved a defamation claim for $15 million in late 2024.
These cumulative payouts underscore how Trump, now back in the White House after his 2024 re-election, has leveraged lawsuits as a strategy to reshape his public battles with tech and media firms.
Political Concerns and Criticism
Not all lawmakers are pleased with the deal. In August, several Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren, raised alarms in a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan.
They argued that such settlements could signal a “quid-pro-quo arrangement” designed to sidestep deeper accountability for potential violations of federal competition and consumer laws.
Legal experts note that the agreements are small compared with the earnings of companies like Alphabet, which reported nearly $10 billion in YouTube ad revenue in a single quarter this year. Still, the optics of multimillion-dollar payouts to a sitting president remain a sensitive political issue.
Trump’s Wider Legal Strategy
Trump’s legal team, led by attorney John Coale, suggested the president’s re-election accelerated settlement talks that had long stalled in the courts.
“If he hadn’t been re-elected, we’d be in court forever,” Coale said.
YouTube reinstated Trump’s account in 2023, joining Meta and X in lifting prior bans. Recently, YouTube also announced it would relax moderation rules on content related to the 2020 election and COVID-19, a shift that Republican lawmakers have applauded as a step toward greater free speech protections.
