President Donald Trump seems to be letting bygones be bygones with social media giant Meta. Reportedly, Trump signed a settlement agreement at the White House on Wednesday to end the lawsuit he brought against Meta after the company suspended his account in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Trump signed an agreement where Meta has to pay about $25 million. From that amount, about $22 million would be used for Trump’s upcoming presidential library while the rest would cover lawyers’ fees and go to the other people involved in the case, reports said.
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Trump was suspended from both Facebook and Instagram following the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol in 2021.
Trump filed a lawsuit against Meta, accusing the company of censoring him and violating his First Amendment rights. Meta had suspended Trump’s accounts, citing violations of its policies regarding incitement to violence and the risk of further harm. In January 2023, Meta reinstated Trump’s accounts after a two-year suspension, but he continued to be critical of the company’s actions.
Trump also launched his own social media platform, Truth Social, partly as a response to what he sees as censorship from platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and others. The launch of Truth Social has been a way for Trump to circumvent traditional platforms which he believes have been hostile to his views.
But now, it seems like Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, wants to play nice with the president. Zuckerberg reportedly donated $1 million to Trump’s second inauguration. The donation may reflect Meta’s increasing involvement in political and governmental matters, particularly as the company deals with scrutiny over privacy concerns, misinformation, and the regulation of its platforms.
The social media giant also ended its third-party fact checking program ahead of Trump’s second term at the White House, following in the footsteps of X, owned by fellow tech entrepreneur Elon Musk who has been Trump’s biggest ally in the 2024 election campaign.
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Tech CEOs have been cozying up to Trump at Florida’s Mar-a-Lago from weeks before his swearing in ceremony. Making peace with Meta and Zuckerberg could have been a result of the discussions from that time. Going forward, only time will tell what sort of a relationship Zuckerberg’s Meta and Trump maintain.