It's becoming abundantly clear that censorship doesn't pay, as Meta Inc. has agreed to a substantial monetary settlement with President Donald Trump in a suit over the tech giant’s previous biased censorship.
In 2021, while Trump was still in his first presidential term, Meta platforms including Facebook and Instagram banned Trump over a supposed risk of inciting violence. Trump subsequently sued Meta, and now, as he begins his second term, he and Meta have reached a $25 million settlement. This comes soon after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg vowed to overhaul his censorship policies and attended Trump’s inauguration.
Facebook had originally banned Trump in 2021 after the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6, even though Trump called for peace. The company later restored Trump’s accounts.
The Wall Street Journal reported that $22 million of the settlement is allocated to fund a presidential library for Trump. The remaining $3 million will be divided between legal fees and other plaintiffs who signed onto Trump’s free speech suit. The Journal also noted that Meta will not be acknowledging wrongdoing despite the large payout.
The outlet explained that Trump reportedly challenged Zuckerberg on the lawsuit when the latter came to Mar-a-Lago to dine with Trump ahead of the inauguration. The incoming president insisted that Zuckerberg resolve the issue before being accepted as a potentially sincere ally. After that November dinner, Zuckerberg returned in January to discuss the issue, according to The Journal.
In fact, The Journal noted, ABC News also settled its defamation lawsuit with Trump recently, agreeing to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library. Both ABC and Meta appear to be part of the trend of companies and entities that previously vilified or censored Trump and are now moving to appease him as he begins his second term in office. Besides Zuckerberg, anti-free speech Big Tech oligarchs who attended Trump’s inauguration included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Apple CEO Tim Cook, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and X owner Elon Musk (a Trump ally). All of them except Shou Zi Chew also donated money to the Trump inauguration either personally or via their companies, according to Business Insider.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Facebook headquarters at (650) 308-7300 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “misinformation” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
