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YouTube has agreed to pay Donald Trump $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit over the suspension of his channel following the January 6, 2021, Capitol protests, marking the final major settlement in a series of legal actions Trump initiated against social media platforms.
The settlement, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on September 29, 2025, resolves a case that had been largely inactive since 2023, with Trump's legal team reviving it after his return to the presidency.
YouTube suspended Trump’s channel on January 12, 2021, citing concerns that his posts could incite violence in the wake of the Capitol protests, and prevented him from uploading new content until March 2023.
The platform reinstated Trump’s account in March 2023, stating it had carefully evaluated the risk of real-world violence and the importance of allowing major national candidates to communicate with voters during an election cycle.
Under the settlement terms, $22 million will be directed to the Trust for the National Mall to support the construction of a $200 million White House ballroom, which Trump is building, while $2.5 million will be distributed among other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union and author Naomi Wolf.
This settlement follows similar agreements with Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram), which paid $25 million, and X (formerly Twitter), which paid $10 million, both of which were also tied to Trump’s claims of political censorship.
Trump’s lawyer, John P. Coale, said that Trump’s re-election was instrumental in securing these settlements, suggesting that the companies were motivated to resolve the cases due to the political shift.
The settlement states that the payment "shall not be regarded as an acknowledgment of liability or wrongdoing" by YouTube or its parent company, Alphabet.
The case was closed in 2023 but was reopened by Trump’s lawyers after his victory in the 2024 election, with the final settlement filed just days before a scheduled October 6, US Congress hearing.
Google recently admitted that the Biden administration exerted "unacceptable and wrong" pressure on the company to censor YouTube content related to the COVID-19 pandemic and elections, leading to the permanent bans of conservative creators. The platform said it would reinstate some of the banned accounts.