Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly called Twitter) reached an agreement with US President Donald Trump. According to The Wall Street Journal, this compromise was the result of Trump’s case against Twitter due to the closure of his account.
Trump was banned from platforms by major technology companies such as Twitter, Facebook and Google after the pressure on the US Congress Building on January 6, 2021. The former president filed a lawsuit against these companies and claimed that his accounts were closed unlawfully. However, in 2022, a judge rejected the case against Twitter and decided that the platform was not a state -supported actor.
While Trump’s lawsuit against Google is still continuing, Meta (the owner of Facebook and Instagram) ended the process last month by making an agreement with a $ 25 million agreement with the former president. In addition, Trump’s slander against ABC News resulted in a compromise of $ 15 million.
Recently, Trump’s cases against media organizations and technology companies are remarkable. Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump filed a $ 10 billion against the Paramount Global and that this case was about organizing an interview of Kamala Harris.
Donald Trump and X relationship has changed with Musk completely
On the other hand, it is known that Elon Musk has provided great financial support to Trump’s election campaign and increased its influence in the political arena in the USA. Musk is said to have donated more than $ 250 million to support Trump in the 2024 elections. This creates some question marks on the impartiality of the X platform directed by Musk.
These legal struggles with Trump’s social media platforms have led to significant discussions on freedom of expression and content control of digital platforms. In particular, there are various views on whether big platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have the authority to close the accounts of political leaders.
In this process, Trump established his own social media platform Truth Social and continued to communicate directly with his followers. However, Truth Social could not reach a large audience as Twitter and Facebook in terms of number and interaction.
Most of Trump’s cases resulting in a compromise, while the ongoing case against Google will be curious about what kind of consequence will be. On the other hand, the X platform’s agreement with Trump can be an important example of how technology companies will shape their content policies for political figures in the future.