YouTube to pay $22 million in settlement with Trump

The online video platform, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet, is the latest Big Tech firm to settle with Trump after he lodged legal cases challenging his broad deplatforming after January 6.

The $22 million 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 a notice of settlement filing in a California federal court.

Besides the $22 million to Trump's ballroom venture, YouTube agreed to payments of $2.5 million to a host of other Trump allies, including the American Conservative Union.

Trump reposted a message on his Truth Social platform late Monday saying "this MASSIVE victory proves Big Tech censorship has consequences," adding that the Republican "fought for free speech and WON!"

Major platforms removed Trump after January 6 amid worries he would promote further violence with bogus claims that voter fraud caused his loss to Joe Biden in 2020.

YouTube blocked Trump from uploading new content on January 12, 2021, pointing to "concerns about the ongoing potential for violence." The move came in parallel to actions by Facebook and Twitter that also suspended Trump's ability to post after the January 6 upheaval.

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

Trump's lawyers maintained he was kicked off under "non-existent or broad, vague and ever-shifting standards," according to the original July 2021 complaint against YouTube and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.

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. They wanted to block Congress from certifying Biden's win.

Legal experts have seen Trump's claims against the tech giants as shaky at best, noting that the First Amendment of the US Constitution bars the government, but not a private actor, from restricting speech.