★ Private Action
X pays Trump $10M to settle 2021 Twitter suspension suit
Elon Musk / DOGE ConflictsWhere the Settlements Went
Filed February 2025$10,000,000
★ The Brief
What happened
X agreed to pay President Trump $10 million to settle his 2021 lawsuit over Twitter's suspension of his account after the January 6 Capitol riot, a case a federal judge had dismissed in 2022 and that remained pending on appeal.
Who benefits
Deal or steal?
X paid the $10 million while its owner, Elon Musk, served in the administration running DOGE, whose cuts reduced IRS enforcement as his SpaceX carried $1.9 billion in disputed tax breaks and won $13.7 billion in Space Force contracts.
★ Cast your vote
X (formerly Twitter) agreed to pay President Donald Trump $10 million to settle a lawsuit Trump filed in July 2021 over Twitter's permanent suspension of his account on January 8, 2021, two days after the Capitol riot. Twitter had justified the suspension citing 'the risk of further incitement of violence.' A U.S. district judge dismissed the lawsuit in May 2022, but Trump's lawyers had appealed and the case was still pending at the time of the settlement. Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter in October 2022 and reinstated Trump's account in November 2022, now serves as head of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency as a special government employee.
Further reading
- ★ Government ActionJuly 2025Trump's reconciliation law slips spaceports a $1B+ tax break
- ★ Government ActionJuly 2025Qatar donates luxury Boeing 747 to U.S. defense department
- ★ Government ActionJune 2025Air Force pulls Qatar jet retrofit funds from Sentinel ICBM program
- ★ Government ActionMay 2025Musk's DOGE guts IRS enforcement as SpaceX carries $1.9B in disputed tax breaks
- ★ Government ActionApril 2025Space Force awards $13.7B in launch contracts; SpaceX and Blue Origin take the bulk
- ★ Private ActionJanuary 2025Meta donates $1M to Trump inauguration amid admin outreach