Settlement of a Silicon Valley Silicon Valley Company for $22 million toward Trump’s Presidential Library, a lawsuit by Zuckerberg and the Social Media Company Meta
A Meta spokesman confirmed the settlement sum, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The company official said about $22 million of the settlement will be directed to Trump’s presidential library.
In a legal submission, Meta’s attorneys said that it was not sensible to attribute a private party’s action to the government on the basis of a few statements from individual members of Congress.
In response, Meta’s legal team said Trump was suspended for violating policies against inciting violence, not because of any statement made by a member of Congress.
In a book published before he was elected, Trump expressed his displeasure over the $400 million donated in 2020 by Facebook to support local election offices. Trump threatened to throw the tech billionaire in prison for the rest of his life.
Zuckerberg was among a number of Silicon Valley executives and companies who contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. He recently ended Meta’s fact-checking program, which had been criticized by Trump supporters. The company promoted a Republican lobbyist to head its global affairs. Dana White was appointed to the company’s board of directors.
The settlement, which would contribute $22 million toward Trump’s presidential library funds as well as legal fees, is the latest signal of Trump’s powerful influence over corporate America. The chances of the case succeeding were not very promising, as a judge threw out a similar suit against the social networking company and the second case against the company was administratively closed. The docket has been stagnant since 2023. But now back in the White House, Zuckerberg and many of his tech and business peers have recognized the immense influence Trump could wield over their companies and have taken a much more proactive role in engaging with his administration compared to last time.
The settlement amount was not revealed in a letter to the court written on Wednesday by Zuckerberg lawyer K. Winn Allen, who told a judge in Northern California that “parties have reached an agreement” in the case, saying that both sides will soon ask for the suit to be dismissed.
Donald Trump’s Facebook account suspensions revealed by a class action lawsuit against the Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Mar-a-Lago
is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform.
It’s a step that Trump discussed with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg during his recent visit to Mar-a-Lago, The Verge has independently confirmed. A source told The Journal that Trump said that a lawsuit would need to be resolved before he could bring a person into the tent.
Trump filed a class action lawsuit against Meta in 2021, seeking damages for himself and other users whose accounts were allegedly “wrongly restricted or curtailed.” The January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol which led to the suspension of Facebook accounts for Donald Trump was said to have been caused by his posts. The shocking events of the last 24 hours show that President Donald Trump plans to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his successor, Joe Biden. The company dropped their restrictions on his accounts after a while.