Feb. 12 (UPI) — The social media platform X reportedly will pay President Donald Trump $10 million to settle a lawsuit over suspension of his account in the wake of Capitol intrusion on Jan. 6, 2021, which was then called Twitter and not owned by Elon Musk. The settlement was reported by several media outlets, including CBS News and The Wall Street Journal.
Late last month, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, paid $25 million to Trump to settle a 2021 lawsuit over its own suspension of his accounts following the Capitol attack.
His Facebook was reinstated in February 2023 after X did that in November 2022.
Twitter banned Trump from the social media platform two days after the Capitol riots “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
In July 2021, Trump sued Twitter, claiming the suspension violated his First Amendment right to free speech.
A U.S. District judge dismissed the lawsuit in May 2022. Trump’s lawyers appealed that ruling and it was still pending.
About a month after Musk purchased Twitter in November 2022 for $44 billion, he reinstated Trump’s account.
Musk now works for the government, heading up the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
He also spent spent $277 million on Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
As a rival to X, Trump formed Truth Social on Feb. 21, 2022. The service is owned by Trump Media & Technology Group.
Truth Social brought in $1 million in revenue in the third quarter of 2024 and the company reported an operating loss of $23.7 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
There are 5.9 million Truth Social subscribers compared with 650 million for X.
As president Trump posts on Truth Social and less frequently on X.
People have been turning to Bluesky, which had more than 30 million users in February after the app debuted in February 2024.