And then there were none.
In a curious dramatic turn of events, YouTube—a subsidiary of Google—has become the final player to settle a lawsuit initiated by former President Donald Trump. This conclusion comes after an investigative dive by The Wall Street Journal, which paints a rather vivid picture of the unfolding saga.
The video-sharing giant agreed to disburse a striking $24.5 million to resolve lawsuits filed by Trump in 2021, following the controversial ban of his YouTube channel after the January 6th disturbance at the Capitol.
YouTube asserted that this drastic action was necessary to preemptively eliminate any videos that could potentially incite violence.
(For context, Trump’s channel was reinstated in March 2023.)
This settlement marks the second-largest agreement resulting from Trump’s lawsuits against tech giants—a reflection of careful positioning.
The largest settlement was one with Meta Platforms, Facebook’s parent company, which reached an impressive $25 million. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Google executives were keen on keeping their settlement just shy of Meta’s amount. This strategic undercutting paints a picture of competitive corporate maneuvering.
While $24.5 million may indeed fall below Meta’s $25 million, it outstrips the $10 million that X, formerly known as Twitter, forked over to Trump for a similar grievance.
In a particularly intriguing twist, it’s worth noting that Trump will only retain a portion of the settlement—specifically, $22 million—yet intriguingly, none of this will go into his own coffers.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the funds will be redirected to the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall, which is spearheading the construction of a grand ballroom near the White House. The remaining $2.5 million is earmarked for various other plaintiffs, although the article curiously omits any mention of attorney fees.
This settlement follows months of what YouTube characterized as “productive conversations” with the Trump administration back in June, as outlined by The Hill.
This article originally appeared on The Western Journal.
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