President Donald Trump is facing a federal lawsuit seeking to stop paying customers from receiving faster access to his Truth Social posts, including official announcements capable of moving financial markets.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by investigative news organization The Intercept and the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation. The groups argue that selling preferential access to presidential communications violates the First and Fifth Amendments.
Trump is named as a defendant in his official capacity as president. The complaint also names White House Deputy Chief of Staff Daniel Scavino, presidential executive assistant Natalie Harp, the Executive Office of the President and the White House Office.
At the center of the case is Truth API, a business-to-business data service launched Aug. 1 by Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social. The service delivers posts from the platform's most prominent accounts to subscribers faster than those posts reach regular users.
Subscriptions cost $100,000 a month or $60,000 a month for customers who make a three-year commitment. Trump Media interim CEO Kevin McGurn said this week that more than 10 customers had already signed up, primarily financial news companies and high-frequency trading firms.
The service provides access to posts from 10 prominent Truth Social accounts, including those belonging to Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Scavino, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, FBI Director Kash Patel and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Trump has repeatedly used Truth Social to announce government decisions involving tariffs, military operations, foreign policy and personnel changes. Such posts can produce immediate movements in stocks, oil prices, currencies and other financial assets.
Trump Media has promoted Truth API as a way for customers to receive its most "market-moving" content within milliseconds. That speed could allow automated trading systems to react before ordinary investors or journalists see the same information through the public Truth Social website.
The 30-page complaint argues that official presidential announcements should be available to the press and public on equal terms, regardless of their ability to pay. It also claims the government has no legitimate reason to allow a private company connected to the president to monetize faster access to public information.
"A president selling priority access to news he himself generates for the benefit of a private company he controls is so blatantly corrupt and unconstitutional that it would have been hard to even fathom just a few years ago," Freedom of the Press Foundation advocacy chief Seth Stern said in a statement announcing the case.
The plaintiffs say the arrangement harms their ability to report on and archive Trump's statements. Truth API includes access to an archive of posts dating to 2022, including material that may later be deleted or modified, while Trump Media has indicated it intends to make it more difficult for outside services to automatically collect content from the platform.
The lawsuit also points to Trump's financial interest in the company. Trump remains Trump Media's largest shareholder through the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, which holds approximately 41.4% of its shares. Trump is the trust's sole beneficiary, and the stake is valued at more than $1 billion, according to the complaint.
Trump also has an agreement giving Truth Social a six-hour exclusive window for many of his social media posts before the same material can be republished on competing platforms. The plaintiffs want the court to prevent Trump and White House employees from posting official government information exclusively on Truth Social while paying subscribers receive preferential access.
Trump Media defended the service, arguing that subscription-based data feeds are common across technology, media and financial companies. In a statement reported by the Associated Press, the company accused "left wing activists" of attempting to use the courts to censor Trump and harm Trump Media shareholders.
The lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief rather than financial damages. No court has yet ruled on whether Truth API or the White House's use of Truth Social violates the Constitution.
