Meta agrees to massive payout after Trump sued over closed Facebook account

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, will pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed against them by President Donald Trump in 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The suit argued that Meta violated Trump's rights by suspending his Facebook account in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. That account was already restored before the 2024 election.

The settlement, which allows Meta to continue denying any legal wrongdoing, will see $22 million go to fund the Trump presidential library, with most of the rest covering legal fees.

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All of this comes at a moment when Meta has faced antitrust litigation from the Federal Trade Commission dating back to the previous administration, and, according to former FTC chair Lina Khan, may be trying to curry favor with the Trump administration.

In recent months, a number of significant companies facing lawsuits against Trump have moved to settle, most notably ABC News, which paid out in Trump's defamation claim over George Stephanopoulos saying Trump was “found liable for rape” in the E. Jean Carroll case. Rather, the jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

The end of that case, which experts believe ABC was likely to win, prompted outrage from many people working at the network.