Google's YouTube has agreed to pay US$24.5 million (NZ$42.4 million) to settle a lawsuit by US President Donald Trump over his 2021 account suspension following the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
According to documents filed in federal court in California, US$22 million (NZ$38 million) of the settlement will be contributed to the Trust for the National Mall to help pay for the construction of the White House State Ballroom. The rest will go to other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union.
Google is the latest big tech company to settle lawsuits brought by Trump. In January, Meta Platforms agreed to pay US$25 million (NZ$43.2 million) to settle a lawsuit over his 2021 suspension from Facebook. Elon Musk's X agreed to settle a similar lawsuit brought against the company then known as Twitter for US$10 million (NZ17.3 million).
The settlement does not constitute an admission of liability, the filing says. Google confirmed the settlement but declined to comment beyond it.
The disclosure of the settlement came a week before a scheduled October 6 court hearing to discuss the case with US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers in Oakland, California.
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