Trump gets a $25 million settlement from YouTube for its ban.

US – (Special Correspondent / Web Desk)

YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by former U.S. President Donald Trump. The case was over the suspension of his account after the January 6, 2021, Capitol incident.

According to court papers filed Monday, YouTube—part of Google’s parent company Alphabet—will give $22 million to the Trust for the National Mall. This organization is managing a $200 million project to build a White House ballroom.

The remaining $2.5 million will go to other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union and author Naomi Wolf.

YouTube emphasized it admitted no wrongdoing. The company said the settlement was made only to resolve disputed claims and avoid further legal costs.

The total amount is small compared to YouTube’s earnings, with the platform making nearly $9.8 billion in advertising revenue in Q2 2025 alone.

This settlement comes after similar multimillion-dollar agreements by Meta Platforms and X earlier this year. Trump had accused them of unfairly censoring him over false election fraud claims.

Trump’s lawyer, John P. Coale, who filed all three cases, welcomed the settlement. He told Al Jazeera that both the former president and other plaintiffs were pleased with the outcome.

The deals show Big Tech’s changing approach to Trump, who returned to the White House earlier this year. Top tech leaders, including Google’s Sundar Pichai, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple’s Tim Cook, recently praised his administration during a White House AI-focused dinner.

Several media outlets also resolved Trump’s claims with significant payments. Paramount Global agreed in July to pay $16 million over CBS News’s 60 Minutes allegedly misrepresenting an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.

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ABC News settled in December by giving $15 million to Trump’s presidential library after a defamation issue involving anchor George Stephanopoulos.

Timothy Koskie, a researcher at the University of Sydney, said YouTube’s settlement shows that content moderation rules are becoming inconsistent.

Koskie explained that these settlements may empower selective censorship rather than reduce it. He also warned this could influence how countries regulate online speech in the future.