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YouTube, owned by Alphabet, has agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by former US President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit arose after YouTube suspended Trump's account following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots. This news was revealed in a court filing on Monday.

Trump sued several major tech companies, including YouTube's parent company Alphabet, Facebook's parent Meta, and Twitter (now known as X), claiming they unfairly silenced his conservative viewpoints after he left office.

Meta and X have already settled similar lawsuits earlier this year.

Of the $24.5 million settlement, $22 million will be donated to the Trust for the National Mall, Reuters said.

This nonprofit organization is helping build a $200 million ballroom at the White House, a project supported by Trump.

The remaining $2.5 million will be divided among other plaintiffs involved in the case, such as the American Conservative Union and writer Naomi Wolf.

Trump's YouTube Account Restored After Legal Battle

This settlement marks Alphabet as the third major tech company to resolve Trump's legal battles over account suspensions.

According to AP News, Meta agreed to pay $25 million to settle its case, while X settled for $10 million. Despite the lawsuits, legal experts believed Trump had little chance of winning.

Google confirmed the settlement but declined to comment further. Trump's YouTube account was restored in 2023.

The settlement amount is small compared to Alphabet's huge market value of nearly $3 trillion.

The settlement came just before a court hearing set for October 6 in Oakland, California. The filing emphasized that the settlement does not mean Google admits any wrongdoing.

This development follows other recent settlements involving Trump, including a $15 million payment by ABC News for a defamation case and a $16 million settlement by Paramount over a "60 Minutes" editing dispute.

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