Musk’s X agrees to pay about $13.5m to settle Trump lawsuit: Report
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X is the second social media platform to settle with US President Donald Trump over the suspension of his accounts.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW YORK – Billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform X has agreed to pay about US$10 million (S$13.5 million) to settle a lawsuit that US President Donald Trump brought against the company and its former chief executive, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Feb 12.
That makes X the second social media platform to settle with Mr Trump over the suspension of his accounts following the storming of the US Capitol by his supporters in January 2021.
In January, Meta Platforms said it had agreed to pay about US$25 million to settle a lawsuit by Mr Trump.
He filed lawsuits against Twitter, now known as X, Facebook and Alphabet, as well as their chief executives at the time in July 2021, alleging unlawful silencing of conservative viewpoints.
Mr Trump’s team mulled over letting the lawsuit with X phase out, considering the President’s close relationship with Mr Musk, who had contributed US$250 million to Mr Trump’s election campaign, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
But they ultimately moved forward with the settlement, the WSJ reported.
Mr Musk, who heads Tesla, also leads the Department of Government Efficiency, a new arm of the White House tasked with radically shrinking the federal bureaucracy.
Mr Trump’s attorneys are also expected to pursue a settlement with Google, which banned him from YouTube after the 2021 US Capitol riot, WSJ said.
X and its CEO at the time of Mr Trump’s suspension, Mr Jack Dorsey, as well as Alphabet and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. REUTERS
