YouTube to pay $24.5m to settle Trump lawsuit over Capitol riot

YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5m (£18.6m) to settle a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump, filed after the video platform suspended his account in the wake of the 6 January attack on US Capitol.

The settlement from the video streaming giant’s parent company Alphabet – which also owns Google – comes after social media sites X/Twitter and Facebook also agreed to pay Trump for suspending his accounts.

Trump had accused YouTube and other tech companies of political bias, claiming they had unfairly censored conservative voices after the Capitol riot in 2021.

At the time of his suspension, social media companies said that Trump risked inciting further violence in Washington DC.

As part of Monday’s settlement, YouTube will pay $22m to the Trust for the National Mall, a non-profit group that is aiming to raise $200m to build a new ballroom at the White House.

Another $2.5m will be paid to other organisations and individuals who joined Trump’s lawsuit, including the American Conservative Union.

YouTube is the latest major platform to settle with the president.

In January, Facebook’s parent company Meta agreed to a $25m settlement – with $22m earmarked for Trump’s presidential library.

A month later, social media platform X – a company that was purchased by Trump ally Elon Musk in 2022 – settled for a reported $10m.

All of Mr Trump’s social media accounts have since been reinstated.

The settlements come as Silicon Valley has generally taken a more conciliatory tone towards the president. The CEOs of Alphabet, Meta and X all sat in the front row for his inauguration, signalling a shift in relations between the Republican Party and the tech sector.

The social media giants have also taken measures to loosen content moderation on their platforms which Republicans had claimed amounted to a violation of free speech.

Last week, YouTube said it planned to restore several accounts that had been banned for repeatedly making false claims about Covid and the 2020 presidential election.

“YouTube values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes that these creators have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse,” the company wrote to a Republican-controlled congressional committee, explaining the decision.