X has agreed to pay U.S. President Donald Trump around US$10 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from the suspension of his social media account following a riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Wall Street Journal reported about the settlement on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Twitter was purchased by tech billionaire and close Trump ally Elon Musk in 2022 and renamed to X soon after.
On Jan. 6, thousands of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. to protest then president-elect Joe Biden, with some later being accused of plotting to stop the transfer of power. A total of five people died and hundreds were injured. Earlier that day, Trump had tweeted allegations of voter fraud, per a timeline of events by BBC News. Then, while speaking to supporters in Washington, he said “that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Near the end of his speech, he said: “And we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
By that time, just after 1 p.m., a crowd had already made its way to the Capitol.
Two days later, Trump’s account on X — then called Twitter with CEO Jack Dorsey at its helm — was suspended. Per the social media platform, Trump’s tweets violated Twitter Rules, it said a news release on Jan. 8, 2021.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” it said.
Trump then filed a lawsuit against Twitter and Dorsey. In the complaint, Trump and other plaintiffs accused Twitter of allegedly “using non-existent, broad, vague, and ever-shifting standards” to deplatform them. “Akin to forcing a round peg into a square hole, Twitter declared that specific Twitter posts of (Trump) had violated its self-composed ‘Twitter Rules,’” the complaint said.
The complaint was later dismissed, according to a court document filed in June 2022. Trump’s lawyers appealed.
This month, however, on Feb. 10, a motion by all parties to voluntarily dismiss the complaint was granted, per another court document.
This comes after social media platform Meta (previously known as Facebook) said it would pay Trump $25 million to settle a separate 2021 lawsuit, the Wall Street Journal reported. Like X, the Meta lawsuit stemmed from the suspension of Trump’s account after Jan. 6.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that Trump’s lawyers are likely to seek a settlement with tech company Google, which suspended Trump’s account on its video platform YouTube, following Jan. 6.
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.