Meta has finally settled its long-standing lawsuit with Donald Trump, agreeing to pay the President $25 million.
The lawsuit, filed by Trump against Facebook in 2021, came after the social media giant suspended his accounts following the January 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
According to the Wall Street Journal , the majority of Meta’s settlement, $22 million, will go towards a fund to pay for Trump’s presidential library.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has recently been working to get on the better side of Trump following a previously rocky relationship.
Following Trump’s victory, Zuckerberg dined with the President at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where the two reportedly discussed an end to the lawsuit.
The settlement of the lawsuit reflects the U-turn Zuckerberg has made on the censorship of Meta’s platforms.
After meeting with Trump, Zuckerberg announced Meta would be removing third-party fact-checking on its platforms, claiming online censorship had gotten out of hand.
Trump previously said that the lawsuit would have to be settled before Zuckerberg could be “brought into the tent.”
It appears Zuckerberg has now been brought into Trump’s inner circle, which is rapidly being filled with U.S. tech leaders.
Meta suspended Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts following the attack on the U.S. Capitol. At the time of the attack, Trump was posting false information that he had won the election.
Facebook, later renamed Meta, changed its terms and conditions to allow the suspension of law officials during times of violence.
Zuckerberg said the company believed “the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.”
Trump, who was initially suspended indefinitely, did not take this well—claiming social media companies should not be allowed to get away with “censoring and silencing.”
The social media company later lessened the suspension to two years. Trump was allowed back on the platforms in 2023.
Twitter and YouTube, which had also suspended Trump, also lifted their temporary bans.
Once labeled an “enemy of the people” by Trump for its censorship, Meta is now backtracking on its once-stringent moderation terms.
The move comes as other tech leaders, such as Elon Musk and Sam Altman, are cozying up to Trump’s way of thinking.
In a clear effort to align with the Trump administration’s priorities, Zuckerberg announced on Jan. 7 that a “Community Notes” feature would replace the tech giant’s third-party fact-checking system on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
“We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg said Meta had seen this work on X, “where they empower their community to decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context.”
“We think this could be a better way of achieving our original intention of providing people with information about what they’re seeing – and one that’s less prone to bias,” Zuckerberg said.
At the beginning of the year, Nick Clegg, president of global affairs, announced he was leaving Meta to be replaced by Joel Kaplan, a Republican who previously worked on managing the company’s relationships with conservatives.
The hire of Kaplan, who worked as the White House deputy chief of staff in the Bush administration, highlights the company’s shift in appeasing Trump and his future policies.