X owner Elon Musk has agreed to pay his ally Donald Trump $10 million to settle a Twitter-era lawsuit against the social media company over the suspension of the politician’s account in the wake of the January 6 Capitol insurrection in 2021.
Mr Trump was banned from X, then known as Twitter, two days after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building on the day former President Joe Biden’s election victory against him was being certified by the U.S. Congress.
The social media platform, under previous ownership, accused Mr Trump of using his account to instigate violence on that day, prompting Mr Trump to sue the company in July 2021, claiming the suspension violated his First Amendment right to free speech.
A U.S. district judge dismissed the lawsuit the following year. However, Mr Trump’s lawyers immediately appealed the ruling, pending since Mr Musk purchased the company for 44 billion in late 2022 and as of last week.
Subsequently, Mr Musk renamed the platform to X and reinstated Mr Trump’s account a month after buying the company but automatically inherited Mr Trump’s lawsuit against the platform.
However, X has now agreed to pay Mr Trump $10 million to settle the lawsuit, even after Mr Musk and the platform played crucial roles in the president’s re-election victory during the presidential election.
Mr Musk is heavily involved in the Trump administration as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, tasked with cutting federal government spending.
