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Meta Caves, Settles Trump Lawsuit for $25 million

Meta Caves, Settles Trump Lawsuit for $25 million

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The Wall Street Journal reported  on Wednesday that Facebook parent Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit with President Donald Trump over the company’s decision to suspend his accounts in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Meta filed the notice of the settlement in federal court in San Francisco where the lawsuit was pending. According to Meta spokesperson Andy Stone the $25 million payment will be broken into two parts, with $22 million going to a fund for Trump’s presidential library and $3 million for legal fees and other plaintiffs in the case.

The Meta capitulation marks the second legal settlement Trump has won since he won reelection after ABC News agreed to pay $15 million after Trump sued the network over “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate assertion that he had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.

Unlike Meta which didn’t admit to any wrong doing ABC News posted an editor’s note to its website expressing regret over Stephanopoulos’ statements during a March 10 segment on his “This Week” program as part of the settlement. In addition to the $15 million which will go to Trump’s presidential library fund, ABC will pay $1 million in legal fees to Trump’s attorney.

The settlements appear to be a direct result of Trump’s reelection as Meta and ABC New look to get into the good graces of the president in his second term.

Meta has also capitulated to Trump by ending its fact-checking program in favor of a community notes structure comparable to what X (formerly known as Twitter) pal Elon Musk bought X.

The social media landscape is changing as a result of Trump’s victory in November and there is evidence that the mainstream media is also trying to curry favor with the new administration with programming and personnel changes

Don Irvine
Donald Irvine is the chairman of of Accuracy in Academia (AIA), a non-profit research group reporting on bias in education. Irvine follows his father’s legacy, Reed Irvine, to critically analyze the liberal media’s bias and brings over thirty years of media analysis experience. He has published countless blog posts and articles on media bias, in context of current events, and he has been interviewed by many news media outlets during his professional career. He currently hosts a livestream weekly show on AIA’s Facebook page which discusses current events. Irvine graduated from the University of Maryland and rose up the ranks to become chairman of Accuracy in Media until his transition to AIA. He resides in the suburbs around the nation’s capital and is a proud father and grandfather.

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