Former President Donald Trump was hit with a lawsuit on August 12 over a paid feature on his “Truth Social” platform that lets subscribers view his posts early. The White House hasn’t commented on the case yet.
Two U.S. media organizations—the Freedom of the Press Foundation and The Intercept—filed the suit together in a federal court in New York. According to foreign reports, the plaintiffs argue in their filing that this service, which allows users to pay for early access to Trump’s posts on topics like war and tariffs, is “unconstitutional” since official announcements should be released to everyone at the same time. They’re asking the court to force the platform to shut down this paid feature.
Back on July 16, Truth Social announced it would sell access to its Application Programming Interface (API) for accounts held by Trump and others to high-frequency trading firms. This would let these firms see Trump’s posts “milliseconds” before the general public. Democrats quickly slammed the move, saying it would line the pockets of the Trump family.
As The Washington Post put it, this new product, dubbed the “Truth” API, creates an “unprecedented new path” for Trump to cash in on his presidential position.
Truth Social is part of Trump Media & Technology Group, which is majority-owned by the Trump family. The Financial Times, citing insiders, reported on July 17 that the company had been quoting a monthly fee of $100,000 to potential buyers of the “Truth” API product. Reuters also noted that the firm pitched a discount deal—signing a three-year contract would bring the monthly cost down to $60,000.
Trump boasts about 12.9 million followers on Truth Social, and his posts there often move markets. He’s been known to fire off over 100 posts in a single day on the platform, and his past comments on topics like Iran conflict, tariffs, and the Federal Reserve have repeatedly triggered turbulence in financial markets.
