On Wednesday, the tech company Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, agreed to pay a $25 million settlement as a result of the company’s decision to ban President Donald Trump shortly before his first term ended.
As reported by the Daily Caller, the settlement is the latest conciliatory act by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has made numerous public statements admitting to his regret over the controversial bans. Of the settlement, $22 million will go towards funding for President Trump’s official presidential library, while the remaining $3 million will cover legal expenses and compensation for other plaintiffs in the case.
Zuckerberg also donated $1 million to President Trump’s second inauguration, and Zuckerberg was in attendance at the inauguration.
Facebook and Instagram were two of the multiple major social media sites that banned the 45th president after the peaceful protest at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, less than one month before he was set to leave office. Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms also banned him in the aftermath of the protest.
In June of 2021, Facebook conducted a review of Trump’s suspension and confirmed that it would lift the ban after two years. The ban was lifted on January 7th, 2023.
“We are today announcing new enforcement protocols to be applied in exceptional cases such as this, and we are confirming the time-bound penalty consistent with those protocols, which we are applying to Mr. Trump’s accounts,” Facebook said in a statement in June of 2021. “Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump’s suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols.”
President Trump has since been restored on all major social media platforms. With the exception of X, formerly known as Twitter, he has returned to regular use of all platforms both as a candidate and as the 47th president.
FAFO, ladies and gentlemen.