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Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit brought by President Trump against the company for suspending his account in the wake of the 2020 election.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, $22 million of the settlement will be used for a presidential library with the remainder going towards legal fees and fellow plaintiffs in the case.
The settlement comes after talks between Meta Chief Executive, Mark Zuckerberg, and President Trump following the November election. Zuckerberg took steps to strengthen relations with the incoming administration, including trips to meet with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Reporter Rebecca Ballhaus covered the conditions leading to the settlement in a post on X.
“Trump raised the lawsuit at the November dinner he had with Zuckerberg at Mar-a-Lago, and serious settlement talks began after that,” Ballhaus said. “Trump signaled that the litigation had to be resolved before Zuckerberg could be “brought into the tent,” one source said.
Zuckerberg was also among the group of tech billionaires who attended President Trump’s inauguration. He has also taken steps to establish relationships with key Trump allies, including naming the CEO of UFC, Dana White, to Meta’s board of directors.
The settlement over the case for censoring Trump’s account comes in the wake of a major announcement from Zuckerberg that Meta would be pulling back on content moderation and once again prioritizing free speech.
