Trump sued over Truth Social feed charging traders up to $100,000 a month for early access to his posts

Lawsuit filed in New York

Two media organizations, The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in the US district court for the southern district of New York against President Donald Trump, two of his aides, and the executive office of the president. The complaint targets "Truth API", a paid data feed launched on 1 August by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind Truth Social. The plaintiffs call the arrangement "extraordinary, corrupt and unconstitutional" and seek to prevent the president from posting official government information exclusively on Truth Social.

The service gives paying subscribers faster access than the general public to posts from 10 of the platform's highest-profile accounts, including Trump's own account, Vice-President JD Vance, and press secretary Karoline Leavitt. TMTG has said Truth API would deliver Trump's posts to customers "milliseconds" before those posts reach the public. Subscribers pay $100,000 a month, or $60,000 a month for a three-year commitment.

Market-moving posts at a premium

Trump has a history of using Truth Social to disclose market-sensitive news, including posts on tariffs and the war in Iran, which have triggered swings in stock and oil prices. TMTG's interim chief executive, Kevin McGurn, has promoted the service as a way to give businesses fast access to the platform's "most market-moving" posts, describing it as a "high-margin" product meant to provide a "meaningful, ongoing source of revenue."

TMTG disclosed on 10 August that it already had more than 10 subscribers, reportedly including financial news outlets and high-frequency trading firms. McGurn told the Financial Times this week that about 10 groups had signed deals for Truth API so far. TMTG was also working on "an expansion" of Truth API for retail investors and was in "active conversations with hyperscalers, some of the largest news organisations and developers of large language models." The company was exploring licensing the data to prediction markets while working to block third-party tools that let outside groups scrape and archive Trump's posts.

Financial backdrop

TMTG, which is owned by Trump through a trust, reported a loss of $238.1 million in the second quarter. The company's revenue grew 89% year-over-year in Q2, reaching $1.7 million. Trump remains TMTG's largest shareholder, with a stake worth roughly $1bn. TMTG shares fell more than 6% on Wednesday.

Political and legal reactions

The launch followed criticism from Democratic senators Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren, who had urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to examine whether the service amounted to market manipulation benefiting insiders at ordinary investors' expense. The plaintiffs argue that the president stands to personally profit from selling privileged access to information generated in his official capacity.

Leftwing activists are trying to wrongfully weaponise the courts to censor him again and harm our shareholders.

A TMTG spokesperson also said that "information from President Trump is disseminated by countless platforms and news outlets, many of which offer subscription APIs." The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation said they regularly cover Trump's social media posts and now face "delayed access" to the announcements as well as "permanent bars to the president's archived posts, making it harder for both organisations to do their jobs."