Meta has reached a $25 million settlement in a lawsuit that former President Donald Trump had filed. This lawsuit was filed following the suspension of Trump’s accounts on Meta platforms after events of January 6, 2021, where the Capitol was attacked.
This makes it yet another time where a giant corporation has opted to settle a litigation with Donald Trump. Trump had for long used as a strategy counter threatening those he feels are his critics or his rivals throughout his political career.
Part of the deal has ordered $22 million to go to a charity representing Trump’s yet-to-be-built presidential library. The rest of the money has been set aside to cover legal fees and compensation for the other parties in the legal process.
To mend relations with Trump, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg invited him for a meeting at Mar-a-Lago last November. This meeting reflects a broader tendency among tech giants, business moguls, and officials to court the incoming administration of Donald Trump. The meeting followed Trump’s presidential election win and was juxtaposed with Meta’s contribution of $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee, showing financial allegiance. Zuckerberg further sat with a group of rich at the inauguration ceremony, with the Capitol Rotunda playing host to the event.
Meta has expressed that it would finally stop its longstanding practice of fact-checking and not put a hold on the platform, which would favor the interests of both Trump and his supporters, who have railed against such practices. After he left office, Trump filed the lawsuit against social media, claiming the platforms’ actions were “illegal” and “shameful censorship of the American people.”