Elon Musk’s X to pay Donald Trump $10 million to settle 2021 Twitter ban lawsuit

Elon Musk’s X has agreed to pay U.S. President Donald Trump $10 million to settle a lawsuit from when the company was known as Twitter and owned by Jack Dorsey. The 2021 lawsuit case was based on censorship claims levied against Trump. 

Twitter banned the President’s account in 2021 for comments he made about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack that the platform said violated its principle of violence policy.

The social media company cited two tweets from Trump as the reasons for his ban. One tweet said the “American Patriots” who voted for him would “not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” 

In the other post, the U.S. President said that he would not attend former President Joe Biden’s inauguration. Twitter perceived that the posts, which were made two days after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, could be interpreted as supporting the rioters and as encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts at the inauguration.

The U.S. President then sued Twitter, Facebook, and Google four years ago, alleging the companies censored him in the wake of his defensive comments on the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In the wake of the settlement, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s team is already considering letting its lawsuit against X wear out after his inauguration. This spurred Trump’s relationship with Musk, which has only grown closer over the past two years.

Despite the relationship with Musk, Trump moved forward with the settlement anyway. Recall that the X owner injected over $200 million into Trump’s presidential campaign last year.

The relationship added another vibe on Tuesday when the President appeared alongside Elon Musk in the Oval Office to answer questions about the Department of Government Efficiency’s recent actions. 

He also signed an executive order instructing federal agencies to work with DOGE to “significantly” reduce the federal workforce and slow hiring, a move that comes as controversy surrounds Musk’s powerful agency.

It is yet unclear where the $10 million settlement will go, but a Wall Street Journal report said that when Meta settled a similar lawsuit with Trump last month, much of the money would go toward his presidential library. 

Also Read: Sam Altman rejects Elon Musk’s $97.4bn bid for OpenAI, offers to buy ‘Twitter’ for $9.74bn.

Meta’s settlement with Donald Trump

The $10 million X’s settlement follows a $25 million settlement agreed by Meta to resolve a suit around the U.S. President’s censorship claims. 

Recall that Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were also suspended following the Capitol attack as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Trump used “his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters.” 

Some $22 million of the settlement figure will go toward Trump’s presidential library while the remainder will be allocated for legal fees and other plaintiffs involved in the case. The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta did not admit wrongdoing.

The former president’s accounts have been reinstated across all platforms, with his Facebook and Instagram accounts back since Jan. 2023. In this light, Musk and Zuckerberg have been growing closer to the President since his election. 

Although the Meta owner did not endorse Trump in the run-up to the election, he donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. 

The donation was Meta’s first to US inaugural funds. The tech giant did not make such a donation to President Joe Biden’s inaugural fund in 2020 or Trump’s previous inaugural fund in 2016.

Zuckerberg had earlier in November dined with the President at his Mar-a-Lago estate in what seems to be a relationship repair between his firm and the President-elect. During that time, Zuckerberg appointed Joe Kaplan, an executive with GOP ties, as Meta’s policy chief.

This comes months after Zuckerberg called him a “badass” in the wake of the attempt on his life last summer. The Meta owner praised the U.S. President after the incident.

Another major shift was when Trump once said Zuckerberg deserved to “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he tried to intervene in the 2024 election through his social media platforms. 

Also in the repair lane was Meta’s appointed UFC President Dana White and two other new members to its board of directors. White was known to be a high-profile campaigner for President Donald Trump.

He appeared in the President’s first-ever TikTok video and spoke at the Republican National Convention and at Trump’s election night rally. However, White recently swore he wanted to do nothing with politics.