- The lawsuit stemmed from Trump’s ban from Facebook and Instagram following the January 6th insurrection.
- The settlement does not require Meta to admit any wrongdoing.
- The settlement comes amid a series of moves by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg seen as aligning the company more closely with the political right.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, on Wednesday agreed to settle a lawsuit brought in 2021 by President Donald Trump, according to court records obtained by USA TODAY.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the company agreed to pay the plaintiffs a total of $25 million, with $22 million considered a donation to Trump’s presidential library. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the details of the settlement to USA TODAY.
“The parties have reached an agreement to settle the named plaintiffs’ individual claims and resolve this matter,” Meta attorney Winn Allen wrote in a court filing Wednesday. “The parties will file a joint stipulation of dismissal with prejudice in the coming days.”
The suit was brought after Facebook, among other social media platforms, suspended Trump’s account following the Jan. 6 insurrection that attempted to overthrow the 2020 election.
NBC News reported that the settlement does not require Meta to admit wrongdoing.
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Settlement follows Zuckerberg’s moves toward right
The settlement follows a move toward the right by Meta and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who began an earnings call with investors on Wednesday by applauding Trump’s administration for supporting the tech industry and predicting that 2025 will be a major year for “redefining” the company’s relationships with governments, NBC News reported.
On Jan. 10, Meta canceled its diversity, equity and inclusion programs to align its social media company with the then-incoming administration and the so-called MAGA anti-“woke” movement.
“The term ‘DEI’ has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others,” Janelle Gale, Meta’s vice president of human resources, wrote in an employee memo first obtained by Axios.
The company also loosened restrictions on hate speech and scrapped fact-checking policies on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
Zuckerberg, who was at Trump’s inauguration, named Trump ally and UFC boss Dana White to its board of directors earlier this month and elevated prominent Republican Joel Kaplan to lead its global affairs operation.
At a press conference earlier this month at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump praised Meta for its recent moves, saying, “I think they’ve come a long way.” Asked if Meta was responding to threats he had made against the company and Zuckerberg, Trump said: “Probably.”
Trump’s lawsuit aimed at big tech
Trump claimed that his First Amendment rights were violated when he filed the class-action suit against Facebook as a part of a broader swipe against social media platforms that removed him.
The Amendment, which says “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech,” applies to government entities, not private domains, though some conservatives have been pushing to expand free speech protections to privately owned forums.
Facebook suspended Trump from the platform for two years and condemned Trump in the immediate aftermath of the insurrection.
“Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump’s suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules,” Nick Clegg, then-vice president of Meta’s global affairs and communications, said at the time.
This story has been updated with new information
