U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a legal agreement with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, which will result in a payment of approximately $25 million. Trump sued Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in 2021 after his accounts were suspended following the January 6 Capitol riots.
In July 2024, Meta lifted the final restrictions on Trump’s accounts ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The agreement, initially reported by the Wall Street Journal, stipulates that around $22 million will go to a fund for Trump’s presidential library, with the remainder covering legal expenses and costs for other plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit. Meta has not admitted any wrongdoing regarding the suspension of Trump’s accounts.
Following Trump’s victory in the November presidential elections, Zuckerberg visited his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, signaling a thaw in their relationship. In the following month, Meta donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, and Zuckerberg attended the inauguration in the Capitol, sitting alongside other tech billionaires.
Over the years, Trump has fiercely criticized Zuckerberg and Facebook, calling them “anti-Trump.” Their relationship deteriorated further after the suspension of Trump’s accounts, which he referred to as “enemies of the people” in March 2024.
Meanwhile, Twitter, now called X and owned by Trump ally Elon Musk, reinstated Trump’s account in 2022 following an online poll that voted in favor of his return.
