Elon Musk has agreed that X will pay Donald Trump $10 million as part of a settlement over his ban from the platform.
The lawsuit was related to Trump’s suspension after the January 6 Capitol incident, sources told The Wall Street Journal. After losing the 2020 election, Trump used Twitter to claim voter fraud and encouraged his supporters to attend a rally in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021.
That day, Trump told the crowd he would “never concede” the election.
On the morning of January 6, he tweeted: “Get smart Republicans. FIGHT!” He also claimed that then-Vice President Mike Pence had the power to change the election results.
As the situation at the Capitol escalated, Trump tweeted at 2:38 PM, telling people to “stay peaceful.”
Trump’s legal team first filed the lawsuit against Twitter (now X) and its former CEO Jack Dorsey in July 2021, after Trump was permanently suspended from the platform on January 8, 2021. Twitter stated that the decision was made due to the “risk of further violence.”
At first, Trump thought about dropping the lawsuit, especially after Musk, who has been supportive of him, donated $250 million to his campaign. However, he chose to move forward with the settlement despite his relationship with Musk.
After Musk bought Twitter in October 2022, he reinstated Trump’s account the following month. However, Trump was not happy with the settlement amount.
“It’s very low. I was looking to get much more money than that,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday night.
Musk, who appeared surprised when the topic came up, replied: “I left it up to the lawyers and the team running Twitter.”
This settlement makes X the second major social media platform to settle with Trump. Last month, Meta paid $25 million over his suspension from Facebook.
Trump’s legal team is also negotiating with Google, which banned him from YouTube in January 2021.
A federal judge initially dismissed Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter in May 2022, saying the platform had the right to remove him. However, Trump appealed, and the case was heard again in late 2023.
At the time, the lawsuit was seen as part of a larger effort by conservatives to challenge social media censorship.