Zuckerberg’s Meta To Pay Trump $25 Million To Settle Lawsuit
Meta and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have agreed that the company will pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump.
Trump sued the parent company of Facebook because the social media platform suspended his account after the Jan. 6 2021 Capitol riot, which he inspired with false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election.
On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that $22 million of the settlement will be used to fund Trump’s presidential library. The remaining $3 million will go toward Trump’s legal fees.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump railed against Zuckerberg and even threatened to throw him in prison.
“We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Trump posted on Truth Social in August.
After Trump won in November, Zuckerberg traveled to Mar-a-Lago several times. The Journal reported that Trump raised the lawsuit during a dinner that month. According to a person familiar with the conversation, the suit had to be resolved if Zuckerberg wanted to be “brought into the tent.”
The settlement comes on the heels of a $1 million donation Zuckerberg made to Trump’s inauguration fund in December.
Meta is the latest company to pay Trump millions. Last month, ABC News shelled out $15 million to settle a defamation suit brought by the president, who also has an active lawsuit against CBS News.
