YouTube Pays $24.5M to Settle Trump Lawsuit Over 2021 Account Suspension After Capitol Riot
YouTube’s parent company, Alphabet, has agreed to pay $24.5 million (£18.6 million) to resolve a lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump following the platform’s suspension of his account after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
The settlement, announced on September 29, 2025, marks the final major tech firm to settle similar claims, following earlier deals with Meta ($25 million in January) and X (formerly Twitter, $10 million in February).
Trump sued YouTube, Meta, and X in 2021, alleging political bias and censorship of conservative voices, claiming the bans violated free speech. Platforms justified the suspensions by citing risks of further violence from Trump’s posts amid the riot, which left five dead and hundreds of officers injured. YouTube froze Trump’s channel on January 12, 2021, preventing uploads.
Under the agreement, filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland, California:
$22 million goes to the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit supporting Trump’s $200 million White House State Ballroom project.
$2.5 million is distributed to co-plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union and author Naomi Wolf, banned for COVID-19 misinformation.
Alphabet admitted no wrongdoing and faces no policy changes. Trump’s lawyer, John Coale, noted the swift resolution post-re-election: “If he hadn’t been re-elected, we’d be in court forever.” All Trump’s accounts were reinstated by mid-2021.
The deals signal a thaw in tech-Republican relations, with CEOs from Alphabet, Meta, and X attending Trump’s inauguration. Platforms have since eased content moderation, including YouTube’s recent plan to restore accounts banned for election or COVID falsehoods, emphasizing “conservative voices” in civic discourse.
