YouTube settles Trump suspension suit for $24.5 million

YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump challenging the suspension of his channel after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to court documents filed Monday in federal court in Oakland, California. Under the agreement, $22 million will be contributed to the Trust for the National Mall to support construction of a planned White House state ballroom, and the remaining roughly $2.5 million will be distributed among other plaintiffs in the suit, including the American Conservative Union and several individual plaintiffs such as Naomi Wolf and Andrew Baggiani.

The settlement resolves one of several lawsuits Trump brought in July 2021 against major technology platforms and their chief executives, alleging they unlawfully silenced conservative viewpoints by blocking his accounts in the wake of the Capitol breach. The filing states the settlement does not constitute an admission of liability by YouTube, its parent company Alphabet, or their employees and agents.

YouTube initially suspended Mr. Trump’s channel in January 2021, saying at the time that "after review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing...