Musk's X, $14.5 Billion Settlement with Trump in Lawsuit

Settlement Reached Over Account Suspension After January 6 Capitol Riot
Meta Previously Agreed to Pay $25 Million

Following Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms (hereafter Meta), Elon Musk's social networking service (SNS) X (formerly Twitter) has also agreed to pay a settlement to U.S. President Donald Trump to resolve a lawsuit.

On the 12th (local time), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing sources, that X agreed to pay President Trump $10 million (approximately 14.5 billion KRW).

After the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, which was incited by his supporters disputing the election results, Facebook and X (then Twitter) blocked President Trump's accounts, leading him to file lawsuits against both companies and their CEOs.

After acquiring Twitter, Musk restored President Trump's account on X in November 2022. Sources said that although Trump's side considered dropping the lawsuit because Musk is a close associate who reportedly spent $250 million (about 360 billion KRW) to support Trump's election, they ultimately proceeded with a settlement.

Earlier last month, Meta reached a similar settlement, agreeing to pay President Trump $25 million (approximately 36.1 billion KRW) to resolve the lawsuit. Of the settlement amount, $22 million was allocated to the Trump Presidential Library fund, with the remainder covering legal fees and payments to other plaintiffs who signed the lawsuit.

Although there was little progress in the lawsuit filed by President Trump in 2021, momentum accelerated after Trump won the presidential election last November.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO, who once had an uneasy relationship with President Trump, has been working to improve relations since the election. Shortly after the election, he personally visited Mar-a-Lago in Florida, where Trump’s residence is located, for a dinner, deployed Trump’s associates within the company, and donated $1 million to the inauguration ceremony.

Previously, in December last year, ABC, a U.S. terrestrial broadcaster that had been sued for defamation by President Trump, agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s side on the condition of ending the lawsuit.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.