- Trump signs a $25M settlement with Meta over his 2021 social media suspension.
- $22M of the settlement will fund Trump’s presidential library, with the rest covering legal fees.
- Meta defends its $65B AI investment amid competition from Chinese tech app DeepSeek.
US President Donald Trump has signed a legal settlement with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, in a deal that will see the tech giant pay approximately $25 million (£20 million).
Trump sued Meta and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, in 2021 after the company suspended his accounts following the January 6 Capitol riots. The final restrictions on his Facebook and Instagram accounts were lifted in July 2024, ahead of the US presidential election.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the settlement, which allocates around $22 million to a fund for Trump’s presidential library. The remaining sum will cover legal expenses and compensate other plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit. Meta will not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the agreement.
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Meta initially suspended Trump’s accounts in 2021, imposing a minimum two-year ban. Following his victory in the 2024 election, Zuckerberg made a high-profile visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, a move widely interpreted as signaling improved relations.
The following month, Meta contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund, and Zuckerberg attended the swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol alongside other top tech executives.
Despite their rocky history—Trump had labelled Facebook “anti-Trump” in 2017 and later called it an “enemy of the people” after his ban—the settlement and recent interactions suggest a shift in their relationship.
Trump was also permanently banned from Twitter (now X) in 2021, but new owner Elon Musk reinstated his account in 2022 after a public poll narrowly supported the decision.
Separately, on Wednesday, Meta addressed concerns over its $65 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI) after US tech stocks faced turbulence due to the rapid rise of Chinese AI app DeepSeek.
Zuckerberg told investors that while DeepSeek’s success was noteworthy, it was too early to draw strong conclusions about its impact on the future of AI. “If anything, the recent news has only strengthened our conviction that this is the right thing for us to focus on,” he said.
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Despite a broader downturn in US tech stocks, Meta shares rose in after-hours trading following better-than-expected financial results. Analysts are closely watching how DeepSeek’s development—allegedly achieved at a fraction of US AI costs—will influence the American AI landscape.
Zuckerberg reaffirmed Meta’s commitment to open-source AI, arguing that it would help maintain the US’s technological leadership. “There’s going to be an open-source standard globally, and I think for our national advantage, it’s important that it’s an American standard,” he said. “We take that seriously. We want to build the AI system that people around the world are using.”
