YouTube rolls over and pays $24.5 million to settle Trump lawsuit after suspending his account in the wake of the Capitol riots, president calls himself a 'shadowbanned patriot'

US President Donald Trump speaks during a photo opportunity with autoracing officials and champions on the South Portico of the White House on April 9, 2025, in Washington, DC. US President Donald Trump abruptly backed down Wednesday in his global trade war with a 90 day tariff pause for most countries -- but slapped even more levies against China in what has become a brutal duel between the world's two largest economies. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images) — (Image credit: Getty Images)

YouTube has joined the ignominious list of tech companies rushing to settle lawsuits brought by US president Donald Trump. The Alphabet-owned platform has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed after it suspended Trump's YouTube account following the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Trump has accused various tech companies including YouTube of political bias and censoring conservative voices, and both Twitter/X and Meta have already settled lawsuits relating to the suspension of his accounts. In January 2025 Meta agreed to a $25 million settlement, with $22 million of that going to Trump's presidential library, and in February X settled for a reported $10 million.

pic.twitter.com/NNNumraCkNOctober 1, 2025

All very normal. YouTube has been feeling the heat from the Trump administration more generally, and has not exactly covered itself in glory. It and other social media firms have agreed to take steps to loosen content moderation on their platforms, and last week YouTube said it intended to restore accounts that had been banned for posting misinformation about the 2020 presidential election and Covid, among other topics.

"YouTube values conservative voices on its platform and recognizes that these creators have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse," says a YouTube statement sent to a Republican-controlled congressional committee.

Under the settlement YouTube does not admit any wrongdoing, nor agree to make any policy changes. The $24.5 million will see $22 million going to the Trust for the National Mall, a group aiming to raise $200 million for the construction of a new White House ballroom. The remaining $2.5 million will be paid to other plaintiffs in the case, including the American Conservative Union.

TOPICS

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.