Former President Donald Trump has received large financial payouts from big tech companies. This has included Meta and Alphabet, thanks to his recent public settlements from lawsuits over his social media platform suspensions. Trump filed lawsuits against Meta and Twitter in response to his account suspensions after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has settled with Trump for $25 million. Meanwhile, Twitter, which experienced a change in ownership when Elon Musk acquired the platform for $44.5 billion, settled Trump’s lawsuit for $10 million. Finally, on the campaign finance side, Alphabet, parent company of Google and YouTube, settled with Trump. They set aside another $22 million as his personal kitty to add to the Trust for the National Mall and build a White House ballroom. Of the total, the other parties will receive the balance of the $2.5 million. This list runs the gamut from liberal firebrand activist Naomi Wolf to the right-wing American Conservative Union.
As of 2023, Trump’s YouTube account has been reinstated, letting him re-connect with his followers on that platform. The settlements come as Alphabet’s market capitalization approaches $3 trillion. Since then, Trump’s political clout has embarrassed Fox and forced a board reset at Disney just as he’s presided over a $600 billion increase in Alphabet’s worth, a 25% increase.
Trump’s legal actions against Meta Platforms and Twitter were part of a broader strategy to challenge perceived censorship by social media companies. During Trump’s second inauguration, both Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, reportedly lined up behind him, indicating a shift in the tech industry’s approach toward the former President amidst growing political tensions.
To be sure, Trump and Musk have clashed in the past. Yet somehow, today, Musk is one of Trump’s fiercest supporters for his nascent 2024 campaign. The tech industry has been all together in supporting Trump at last week’s Republican Convention.
On October 6, an ongoing court hearing will resume in Oakland, California. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers will guide a thought-provoking discussion about the ramifications of these settlements and where things stand today between Trump and the tech behemoths.
