A lawsuit has been filed against President Donald Trump over a controversial business practice that involves selling prioritized access to his posts on Truth Social. The complaint, submitted to a federal court in New York, describes the arrangement as "unusual, corrupt, and unconstitutional," with plaintiffs seeking to halt the operation.
Truth Social's parent company, Trump Media Group, announced in July the launch of a Truth API subscription service. Paying clients can pay up to $100,000 per month to gain early access to posts from Trump and other platform users that could influence market movements. The lawsuit was jointly filed by the news organization The Intercept and the non-profit group Freedom of the Press Foundation.
President Trump faced legal action on Wednesday from a media outlet and a non-profit organization, demanding an end to this contentious new service that sells early access to his Truth Social content. The civil complaint was lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. It argues that Trump's posts on his own social platform often involve government policies, military operations, and various decision announcements, which can trigger fluctuations in financial markets.
"President Trump charges up to $100,000 per month to provide clients with early access to his official government announcements posted on his social platform Truth Social," the complaint states. "This scheme is egregious, corrupt, and violates the Constitution. The plaintiffs have filed this lawsuit to stop it. There is no legitimate, let alone substantial, justification for allowing a president to profit by selling access to government information."
The plaintiffs are the news outlet The Intercept and the non-profit Freedom of the Press Foundation. The lawsuit alleges that the service, named Truth API, which offers paying subscribers prioritized access to Trump's public announcements for a high fee, violates the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
Trump Media Group, the parent company of Truth Social, unveiled the Truth API in July: subscribers can pay up to $100,000 per month to receive early access to market-moving posts from Trump and other platform accounts. Trump, through the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, is the largest shareholder of Trump Media Group. The lawsuit notes: "This model presents severe conflicts of interest. The president can financially benefit by providing early access to market-influencing government information to clients who can afford to pay."
Kevin McGrath, CEO of Trump Media, stated in a quarterly earnings call on Monday that the Truth API can deliver machine-readable data streams of public posts from top platform accounts in milliseconds. "Paying clients only receive early access to publicly available post content by a very short time margin," McGrath said. He also revealed that the company has signed over a dozen Truth API client agreements, with subscription fees generally ranging from $60,000 to $100,000 per month. He indicated that the company is in talks with major hyperscale cloud providers, large news organizations, and large language model developers.
"Looking ahead, the next phase of the API will expand to more third-party distribution channels, such as news terminals, financial data platforms, and professional publications, which is expected to significantly broaden the reach of this business in the long term," McGrath added.
In addition to Trump, the defendants include: Natalie Harp, the presidential executive assistant who has long managed Trump's Truth Social account; Dan Scavino, White House Deputy Chief of Staff; the Executive Office of the President; and the White House Office.