YouTube pays $24.5 million for blocking Donald Trump's account
Following the storming of the US parliament by Trump supporters, YouTube has blocked his account. There is now a lot of money to settle the legal dispute.
(Image: Claudio Divizia/Shutterstock.com)
YouTube is paying USD 24.5 million to settle a legal dispute over the blocking of Donald Trump's channel after the storming of the US Capitol out of court. This is according to an application submitted to the competent court, which also states that the US President himself will receive USD 22 million. A further 2.5 million will go to other individuals who had joined the lawsuit. The settlement follows million-dollar payments from Meta and X to settle disputes over the blocking of Trump's Facebook and Twitter accounts. According to Wall Street Journal sources, it was now important for Alphabet to pay less than Meta, which it narrowly succeeded in doing.
In mid-January 2021, YouTube was the last major internet platform to suspend Donald Trump's account, first temporarily and then permanently, and he was only allowed to upload videos again two years later. The reason for this was the storming of the US Parliament by a mob that had attempted to enter the Capitol on 6 January 2021 at Trump's request and prevent Joe Biden's election victory from being confirmed. Four people were killed; one woman was shot dead. At the time, activists threatened a nationwide boycott if the platform did not remove Trump's account, which has around 2.77 million subscribers. The account now has almost four million followers, but there have been no new videos since the beginning of the year.
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However, according to the document, the out-of-court settlement does not constitute an admission of fault on the part of YouTube. It is solely a matter of avoiding further costs and the risks that would be associated with further litigation in court. In February, Trump confidant Elon Musk's short message service X settled its legal dispute over the account blocking in exchange for a payment of USD 10 million, while Meta paid USD 25 million. A final court decision on the legality of the blocking is therefore still pending; Trump suffered a defeat against Twitter in 2022. The money from YouTube is now to be used to build a huge ballroom next to the White House.
(mho)
