Legal dispute over account freeze: Meta pays Trump 25 million

According to a court document, Donald Trump will receive 25 million US dollars from Meta. The reason for this financial settlement is a legal dispute concerning the blocking of Trump's accounts on Meta's platforms. Mark Zuckerberg had initiated this after the storming of the Capitol. The then outgoing US President was furious.

The parties' lawyers have so far stated in a published document that there is an agreement “to settle the plaintiffs' individual claims and bring this matter to an end.” A joint stipulation will be filed in the coming days stating that the lawsuit will be dismissed. The Wall Street Journal knows that the settlement is for 25 million US dollars, which Meta is transferring.

The newspaper also writes that 22 million US dollars are to flow into a fund for Trump's presidential library. The remaining amount will be used for legal fees. Meta has confirmed the report. A presidential library is a kind of public archive in which presidents display papers, records and other items that they consider interesting. This tradition has been around for almost a century. Trump's presidential library includes a website that has been online since Trump first left office – which is all he has ever done.

Trump and the social networks

After Trump encouraged his supporters to come to the Capitol in Washington in January 2021, he was blocked on the usual social media platforms. A session of the US parliament was being held in the Capitol to seal Joe Biden's election victory over Trump. Trump's supporters stormed the building and there were injuries. Trump had repeatedly said that the election had been “stolen” from him and that there had been electoral fraud. Meta and other social networks blocked Trump's accounts. They justified this with the risk of Trump inciting violence. Meta lifted the blocks again last January. Meanwhile, Trump had founded his own social network – with moderate success. Truth Social has repeatedly struggled financially.

Trump had not only filed a lawsuit against the bans, which now ended in the 25 million settlement. He had also declared Mark Zuckerberg an enemy of the nation and threatened him with prison if he came to power again. The two have recently moved closer together, with Zuckerberg visiting Trump several times at his Mar-a-Lago estate and donating one million US dollars for the inauguration ceremony. Zuckerberg attended this with other tech entrepreneurs.

(emw)