Elon Musk-owned X has reportedly settled a lawsuit with President Donald Trump over the latter’s de-platforming from the social media platform following the insurrection on January 6, 2021. Social media companies, including X (formerly Twitter), and Meta had suspended Trump’s account at the end of his first term.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said on January 8, 2021.
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Trump had responded to this by accusing the company of banning free speech. “We have been negotiating with various other sites, and will have a big announcement soon, while we also look at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future. We will not be SILENCED!” Trump had said. He proceeded to sue Twitter and Jack Dorsey, who was the CEO at the time.
In May 2022, Judge James Donato of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the lawsuit, saying that Twitter did not infringe on Trump’s First Amendment rights to free speech.
Twitter now has a new name and a new owner—the world’s richest man, Musk, who is also a close ally of Trump, renamed Twitter as X when he took ownership of the social media platform in 2022. Musk was also chosen to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under Trump’s administration and has been on a mission to cut costs and improve the productivity of the federal government.
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Musk had reinstated Trump upon his purchase of X and the lawsuit was finally settled with Musk agreeing to pay Trump around $10 million.
Trump has also settled a similar lawsuit with Meta, owned by Mark Zuckerberg. According to the preliminary draft of the settlement, Meta was required to pay out roughly $25 million – of which $22 million would go toward a fund for Trump’s presidential library. This comes with Meta, and other tech giants trying to cozy up to the Trump administration, through private meetings in Mar-a-Lago, donating million(s) of dollars to Trump’s inaugural fund, and more.