Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to pay President Donald Trump $25 million to resolve a 2021 federal lawsuit accusing the company of violating his First Amendment rights after suspending him from Facebook and Instagram following the January 6 Capitol riot.
The settlement ends the legal battle Trump initiated against Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg, alleging that the social media giant engaged in “impermissible censorship” by removing the former president’s accounts.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the $25 million settlement, which was initially reported by The Wall Street Journal. Around $22 million of this amount will be directed to Trump’s presidential library.
While the settlement figure was not disclosed in a letter filed to the court on January 29, 2025, by Zuckerberg’s attorney K. Winn Allen, he informed the judge in Northern California that an agreement had been reached and that both parties would soon seek dismissal of the lawsuit.
The settlement represents a significant win for Trump, marking another step in Zuckerberg’s attempts to reconcile with him. Zuckerberg was one of several Silicon Valley executives who contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
Earlier this month, he ended Meta’s long-criticized fact-checking program, which had been opposed by Trump supporters. Additionally, Zuckerberg promoted Republican lobbyist Joel Kaplan to oversee Meta’s global affairs and appointed Trump ally Dana White to the company’s board.
Zuckerberg’s shift toward Trump follows years of tension. In a book Trump released prior to his election, he criticized the more than $400 million Zuckerberg donated in 2020 to aid local election offices during the COVID-19 pandemic, even suggesting Zuckerberg could face prison time.
Meta had initially defended its actions in court, arguing that the suit was baseless since “Meta and its CEOs are private entities” and the First Amendment only applies to government actions. Trump’s legal team contended that Meta suspended his accounts under pressure from elected officials, claiming the company acted at the government’s request.
Meta countered by stating that Trump’s suspension was due to violations of policies against inciting violence, rather than any actions prompted by congressional statements.
This settlement follows another recent payout to Trump. In December, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to settle a lawsuit over its coverage of E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse accusations against Trump.
