Ranking Member, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on President Trump's nominees to lead the National Economic Council, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Housing Finance Agency, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 27, 2025.
Senate Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, are asking Google and its YouTube unit whether discussions with lawyers for President Donald Trump have included the possibility of settling a censorship suit in exchange for potentially favorable treatment from the administration.
In a letter sent Thursday to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, the senators asked the executives about conversations with President Trump's lawyers over an ongoing lawsuit that was filed by Trump more than four years ago, accusing the online video platform of unlawful censorship.
The lawsuit stemmed from the suspension of Trump's accounts on social media sites after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump filed suits against Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube later that year.
The senators highlighted reports of a court filing from May indicating that lawyers representing YouTube and President Trump were "engaged in productive discussions." In that filing, the two parties asked the judge to delay a June court hearing until Sept. 8.
"We are concerned about the possibility that Google could settle the lawsuit against YouTube in a quid-pro-quo arrangement to avoid full accountability for violating federal competition, consumer protection, and labor laws, circumstances that could result in the company running afoul of federal bribery laws," the letter states.