YouTube agreed to pay $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit President Donald Trump brought against the Alphabet-owned online video platform over the suspension of his account following the deadly Jan. 6 riots in 2021.

YouTube suspended Trump's official channel on Jan. 12, 2021, six days after the riots, from uploading new content at the time, citing the potential for violence. The settlement was filed in federal court in Oakland, California, on Sept. 29.

In the weeks after the riots, when a mob of the former president's supporters attempted to disrupt Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential election of Joe Biden, Trump was banned from a series of social media and video platforms, including YouTube, X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.

An estimated 10,000 people broke through police barriers to enter the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. Of those, an estimated 2,000 entered the Capitol building, authorities said. The riot led to four deaths, including a demonstrator who was shot as she tried to reach fleeing lawmakers.

A Capitol police officer later died from suffering strokes, and four other officers have taken their own lives since. More than 150 officers were injured, many permanently.

Trump filed lawsuits against Twitter, Facebook owner Meta, and Alphabet's Google, along with their chief executives, in July 2021. Trump alleged that the platforms unlawfully silenced conservative viewpoints.

Earlier this year, Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, settled for $25 million, while X settled for about $10 million.

In March 2023, YouTube announced that Trump’s channel was no longer restricted and that Trump could upload new content.

Under the terms of the settlement with YouTube, $22 million will be paid on Trump's behalf to the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the construction of a $200 million ballroom that Trump is building at the White House.

The remaining $2.5 million of the settlement payment will go to other plaintiffs in the case, including the American Conservative Union.

Trump's other legal settlements

Besides the big tech companies, many major media outlets have settled lawsuits with Trump within the past year.

In July 2025, Trump settled a federal lawsuit with CBS parent company Paramount Global for $16 million after taking exception to a "60 Minutes" interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris that aired on the network in October 2024, weeks before the general election.

Trump claimed CBS deceptively edited an interview to "tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party" in the election. CBS aired two versions of the interview with then-Vice President Harris in which she appeared to give different answers to the same question about the Israel-Hamas war.

The case went to mediation in April after Paramount argued the lawsuit was "completely without merit" and asked a judge to dismiss the case before settling. Paramount said the settlement money would be allocated to Trump's future presidential library, and not paid to Trump "directly or indirectly."

"The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret," the company statement added.

In December 2024, ABC parent owner, The Walt Disney Company, settled with Trump for $15 million over a March 2024 federal lawsuit. Trump accused ABC and news anchor George Stephanopoulos of defamation during an interview with Congresswoman Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, who has spoken publicly about being raped as a teenager.

During the interview, Stephanopoulos inaccurately said Trump was found liable for rape and asked Mace how she could endorse the candidate.

Last year, Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll and was ordered to pay her $5 million. In January, Trump was found liable on additional defamation claims and ordered to pay Carroll $83.3 million.

Neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law.

On Sept. 8, the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in Manhattan declined to dismiss Trump's appeal to not pay the $83.3 million, which means Trump remains responsible for the nearly $90 million in total damages against Carroll.

Contributing: Reuters

Disney's $15 million settlement will also go towards funding Trump's presidential library.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: YouTube agrees to pay Trump $24.5 million to settle account suspension lawsuit

Reporting by Terry Collins, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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