Elon Musk's X to pay $10 million to settle Donald Trump lawsuit | Details

Donald Trump's settlement with X marks the second social media platform to reach an agreement with the President regarding the suspension of his account.

Billionaire Elon Musk's social media platform X has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a lawsuit filed by former US President Donald Trump, the Washington Journal reported on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump filed lawsuits against X, then Twitter, in July 2021.(REUTERS)

The lawsuit, which also named X’s former CEO Parag Agarwal, was related to the action taken against Trump's X account following the January 2021 Capitol riots by his alleged supporters.

This settlement makes X the second social media platform to reach an agreement with Trump regarding the suspension of his account.

PM Narendra Modi US visit Live: Modi to meet President Donald Trump, receives rousing welcome from Indian diaspora

In January, Meta Platforms announced that it was setting the lawsuit filed by US President Trump against the suspension of his Facebook account and had agreed to pay about $25 million.

Why is Elon Musk paying Trump $10 million?

After the suspension of his social media accounts, Trump filed lawsuits against Twitter, now known as X, Facebook and Alphabet, as well as their chief executives at the time in July 2021.

Trump, at the time, alleged that their actions indicated unlawful silencing of conservative viewpoints.

While Trump’s legal team initially considered allowing the lawsuit against X to phase out, due to his close relationship with Elon Musk, who was an integral part of his Presidential campaign as well, they ultimately decided to proceed with the settlement.

Meanwhile, Musk, who also heads Tesla and SpaceX, has been a staunch supporter of Trump and contributed $250 million to his 2020 election campaign, according to reports.

Musk now leads the Department of Government Efficiency, a new arm of the White House tasked with radically shrinking the federal bureaucracy.

On the other hand, Trump's attorneys are also expected to pursue a settlement with Google, which banned Trump from YouTube after the 2021 US Capitol riot, the WSJ said.

Neither X, its former CEO Jack Dorsey, Alphabet, nor the White House responded immediately to requests for comment on these lawsuits or their proceedings.

(With inputs from Reuters)