By Janhvi Ahuja
On the matter of settling a lawsuit, Meta has agreed to reimburse Donald Trump, the President of the United States, with $25 million. This lawsuit originated in 2021 when Trump sued the social media organisation in lieu of suspending his accounts. This move was taken by Meta after the strafe on the US Capitol on 6th January. This settlement was originally reported by the Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by a Meta spokesperson.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a major chunk of this settlement, $22 million, will go towards a fund dedicated to Trump’s Presidential Library. The remainder will cover the legal fees of the case and be distributed to the other plaintiffs involved in the settlement.
The lawsuit that Trump holds against Facebook, an app which now comes under the parent company of Meta, was just one of the multitude of cases that he brought against the social media organizations in the wake of the US Capitol attack. Not only this, but even YouTube and Twitter (now known as X) were at risk as Trump sued the executives of both the companies. Regarding the situation with Twitter, a federal judge dismissed the suit.
Shortly after the attacks and riots at the Capitol, Facebook took the move of suspending Trump’s accounts. This move was crucial because at the time of such chaos, the president was using his accounts to disseminate false information and claims around the subject of election frauds.
As a result of this tactic, Facebook updated its guidelines and rules to allow for suspension of the lawmakers. This will fall under the exceptional clause of cases and situations that occur during periods of violence, riots and public unrest.
Elaborating on the situation, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of FaceBook said that, “we believe the risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.” After this remark, the company gave Trump the maximum penalty under those conditions and fully suspended both his Instagram and Facebook accounts.
In response, Donald Trump replied, “They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our Country can’t take this abuse anymore!”. He further added, “Next time I’m in the White House, there will be no more dinners, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife at his request. It will be all business!”
A few months later, Facebook reduced the penalty to two-year duration and reinstated Trump’s access to both platforms.