“國會山訴訟三部曲” 完美收官！ 繼 Meta 與 X 之後 YouTube 與特朗普達成和解

According to the Zhitong Finance APP, media reports on Monday Eastern Time cited a court document stating that American tech giant Google (GOOGL.US) has agreed to pay approximately $24.5 million in a global settlement to resolve a lawsuit filed by former President Donald Trump against the video streaming platform YouTube in 2021. This lawsuit was initiated after Trump's YouTube channel was temporarily suspended following the large-scale riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 of that year.

For Google, the cost of "suspending" Trump is slightly lighter compared to Facebook's parent company Meta, but significantly higher than the cost incurred by X, which was privatized by Musk. The $24.5 million settlement with Trump marks the conclusion of the "Capitol Hill Trilogy" of lawsuits he filed against the three major social media platforms. With Google reaching a settlement at a lower price, Trump plans to donate $22 million to the Trust for the National Mall.

YouTube suspended Trump's channel after the Capitol riots, stating that it had removed videos that violated the platform's policies regarding potentially inciting violence. However, the video streaming platform restored his channel in March 2023.

Media reports indicate that this settlement makes YouTube, a subsidiary of Alphabet, the last tech company to reach a settlement among the three lawsuits filed against major American tech and social media platforms in the months following Trump's departure from the White House.

Earlier reports indicated that in January, Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms (META.US) agreed to pay $25 million, most of which will go to the fund for Trump's presidential library; social media platform X (formerly Twitter) agreed to pay $10 million, a significant portion of which will be paid directly to Trump.

According to sources cited by the media, Google's executives were eager to keep their settlement amount below what Meta paid.

Reports state that according to a recent court document, the portion of the settlement directly attributable to Trump is $22 million, which will go to the non-profit organization Trust for the National Mall. This fund will be used to construct a "Mar-a-Lago style" ballroom that Trump is building at the White House.

The ballroom that Trump is constructing at the White House is expected to cost $200 million, and he has stated that it will be funded by donations from himself and "other patriotic donors."

Media reports indicate that the remaining $2.5 million of the settlement will be paid to other plaintiffs in the case, including the American Conservative Union and a group of related individuals, including writer Naomi Wolf. According to media reports, the settlement agreement did not mention attorney fees. Since returning to the White House to begin his second term as President of the United States at the beginning of the year, Trump has directly received over $80 million from settlements related to lawsuits he filed against major tech and social media companies due to the Capitol Hill riots