Musk’s X agrees to pay about $10 million to settle Trump lawsuit
Summary
- The platform becomes second social-media company to settle with Trump after Jan. 6, 2021, riot triggered bans
WASHINGTON—Elon Musk’s X has agreed to pay about $10 million to settle a lawsuit that Donald Trump brought against the company and its former chief executive, according to people familiar with the matter.
The agreement makes X the second social-media platform to settle litigation that Trump filed when the companies deplatformed him over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump, along with other plaintiffs, filed the lawsuit in 2021 against the company, then called Twitter, and its CEO at the time, Jack Dorsey. Musk reinstated Trump on the platform in November 2022.
Trump’s team considered letting the lawsuit fizzle out, according to some of people familiar with the matter, citing Musk’s proximity to the president and the fact that he spent Meta settled a similar lawsuit over its suspension of Trump’s Facebook account for $25 million—with $22 million going to Trump’s presidential library. The Meta settlement was more than twice as much as the amount X is set to pay.
Trump’s attorneys are also expected to pursue a settlement with Google, which banned Trump from YouTube after the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot, according to people familiar with the matter. Google declined to comment.
The lawsuits against the three tech companies, filed in July 2021, dragged on for years and appeared to be stalled before November’s presidential election. After Trump won, talks picked up with Meta’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, the Journal has reported.
A federal judge in 2022 dismissed the Twitter lawsuit, and Trump’s lawyers appealed. A federal appeals court heard arguments in the fall of 2023, but hadn’t yet issued a ruling. About two weeks after the election, Trump’s lawyers filed a letter with the court that said they were discussing a settlement with the company. All the parties involved last week filed a motion to dismiss the appeal. It was granted on Monday.
After losing the 2020 election, Trump used the platform, then called Twitter, to spread false reports about voting fraud and to encourage followers to travel to Washington for a “Stop the Steal" rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
Some supporters subsequently marched to the U.S. Capitol and rioted to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. The certification was overseen by then-Vice President Mike Pence.
As protesters gathered, Trump used his Twitter account to falsely tell his millions of followers that Pence had the authority to prevent the election from being certified and failed to act. Later, Trump used the platform to ask supporters to leave.
Two days after the riot, Twitter suspended Trump’s personal account, citing the risk of incitement of violence.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them—specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter—we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," Twitter said at the time to explain the company’s decision.
Other social-media platforms took similar steps.
Musk took control of Twitter in October 2022, and renamed it X. In November 2022, he reinstated Trump’s account after polling users on the question and finding that they wanted him to return to the site.
