Elon Musk to Pay Donald Trump $10 Million to Settle Lawsuit Against Twitter

Social media platform owned by Elon Musk, X reportedly settled for $10 million with former President Donald Trump in an earlier lawsuit against Twitter, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Trump originally sued Twitter and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey after his suspension from Twitter in January 2021.

He was banned after his supporters stormed the Capitol. Apart from this settlement, Musk is also said to have spent approximately $250 million supporting Trump's election campaign last year.

After Musk's takeover of Twitter in 2022, he lifted the ban on Trump and restored his account. The ex-president returned to the platform in August 2023, returning to action by posting his mugshot after two years away.

Prior to restoring Trump, Musk had taken a public survey where users were asked if the former president's account should be restored. "The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated," Musk stated, invoking the Latin saying Vox Populi, Vox Dei—"the voice of the people is the voice of God." The survey had 15 million votes, with a slight majority of 51.8% voting in favor of Trump's return, while 48.2% voted against it.

Trump was initially suspended from Twitter in 2021 for what the company termed repeated policy violations. The company cited concerns regarding how Trump's tweets were being viewed and the risk of further violence. "After a review of recent tweets from @realDonaldTrump and the way they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter, we made the decision to permanently suspend his account," Twitter said at the time.

Trump was also banned from other significant platforms, including Facebook and YouTube. He filed a lawsuit against all three entities, although his case was rejected by a judge in 2022. Although his lawsuit against Google over the ban on YouTube is still unresolved, Meta had settled with Trump separately in January for $25 million.