WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump marked his latest legal victory over a major tech company by sharing a meme showing a humiliated YouTube executive handing him a giant $24.5 million check.
The settlement was revealed in court documents Monday, confirming that YouTube’s parent company Alphabet agreed to pay Trump to resolve his 2021 lawsuit. The case stemmed from YouTube’s suspension of Trump’s channel after the January 6 Capitol riot, which the company said violated its policies against incitement to violence.
In the meme, a man resembling YouTube CEO Neal Mohan is shown handing Trump a novelty check marked “Settlement for Wrongful Suspension.” Trump, smiling and giving a thumbs-up, captioned the image: “YouTube SURRENDERS! Pays President Trump $24.5 MILLION for illegal ban! This MASSIVE victory proves Big Tech censorship has consequences. Trump fought for free speech and WON!”
Alphabet, however, did not admit wrongdoing nor agree to change its policies. Of the settlement, $22 million will go to Trump, who has directed funds toward the National Mall Trust and the construction of a White House ballroom. The remaining $2.5 million will be distributed to other plaintiffs, including the American Conservative Union.
The deal comes after similar settlements with Meta, which paid $25 million in January, and X (formerly Twitter), which paid $10 million in February. Alphabet’s decision follows a recent policy change allowing banned creators back on YouTube under loosened content rules.
Trump first launched lawsuits in 2021 against Meta, Twitter and Google, claiming their bans violated his free speech..
Trump’s YouTube channel was reinstated in March 2023, with the platform citing voter access to major candidates. That followed Meta’s restoration of Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, and Elon Musk’s reinstatement of his Twitter/X account in late 2022.
Beyond tech, Trump has also extracted multimillion-dollar settlements from media giants. Paramount Global reportedly paid $16 million this summer over a 60 Minutes segment, while Disney settled a defamation case against ABC News for the same amount in December 2024.
