NEW YORK: YouTube has agreed to pay $22 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump after it suspended his account over the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, according to a court document released Monday.

The online video platform, a Google subsidiary, is the latest Big Tech firm to settle with Trump after he went to court in July 2021 over his suspension.

Major platforms removed Trump at the time due to concerns he would promote further violence with bogus claims that voter fraud caused his loss to former president Joe Biden in 2020.

Wrongfully censored

The 79-year-old Republican took social media companies and YouTube to court, claiming he was wrongfully censored.

The settlement will go toward Trump's latest construction project at the White House, through a nonprofit called Trust for the National Mall, which is "dedicated to restoring, preserving, and elevating the National Mall, to support the construction of the White House State Ballroom," per the filing.

Trump's posting privileges were curbed after more than 140 police officers were injured in hours of clashes with pro-Trump rioters wielding flagpoles, baseball bats, hockey sticks and other makeshift weapons, along with Tasers and canisters of bear spray.

Lawsuit against X

In February, Elon Musk's X settled for about $10 million, in a lawsuit against the company and its former chief executive Jack Dorsey.

In January, days after Trump's inauguration, Meta agreed to pay $25 million to settle the 79-year-old Republican's complaint, with $22 million of the payment going toward funding Trump's future presidential library.

Over $36 billion in revenue

Parent company Alphabet reported the online video platform's ad sales alone accounted for more than $36 billion in revenue in 2024, per its 2025 annual report filed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

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YouTube to pay $22 million in settlement with Trump