X has reached a settlement with President Donald ***** in a lawsuit over the president’s 2021 suspension from Twitter. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Elon Musk-owned company has agreed to pay “about $10 million” to settle the long-running case.
***** sued Twitter, along with Meta and YouTube, more than three years ago after the companies booted him off their platforms following the riots on January 6, 2021. His lawyers claimed that the suspensions were a violation of his First Amendment rights. The lawsuit against Twitter was dismissed by a judge in 2022, but *****’s lawyers appealed that decision.
X’s settlement comes shortly after Meta also reached an agreement with *****. The company paid $25 million, much of which will go toward building *****’s presidential library, the company confirmed. The Wall Street Journal reports that the president’s lawyers “are also expected to pursue a settlement with Google.” X didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The settlement with X is particularly notable given Elon Musk’s close relationship with *****. The owner of X reinstated *****’s Twitter account soon after taking over the company in 2022 and spent at least $250 million on *****’s campaign in 2024. The president’s lawyers reportedly “considered letting the lawsuit fizzle out” ahead of the settlement.
Since ***** took office less than a month ago, Musk has used his perch at the top of the “department of government efficiency” to wreak havoc across the federal government, in a series of moves that have prompted multiple lawsuits and growing concerns about a constitutional crisis.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/x-will-pay-about-10-million-to-settle-lawsuit-over-donald-trumps-twitter-suspension-234757817.html?src=rss