Two media groups on Wednesday sued to block President Donald Trump’s social media company from offering high-paying clientele real-time access to posts on the platform, alleging the subscription plan is unconstitutional.
Truth Social began offering Truth API, or application programming interface, on Aug. 1 to users who pay up to $100,000 a month for instant access to posts from Trump and others, many of which contain “market-moving” information about wars, foreign policy, the economy, and other topics. APIs are data feeds used by social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and X that are widely relied upon by retail and institutional traders for real-time financial and economic data to inform trading decisions.
The Intercept and Freedom of the Press Foundation filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York this week, challenging Trump Media & Technology Group’s Truth API and claiming that selling priority access to the president’s messages is “extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional.” The service violates the First Amendment and Fifth Amendment by directing market-sensitive information to paying clients first for “unreasonable sums,” it alleges.
“This scheme is profoundly corrupt,” the lawsuit states. “The President stands to gain financially by giving ‘market-moving’ government information to those who are willing and able to pay his personal company.”
“There is no legitimate interest, let alone a significant one, in permitting President Trump to profit from selling government information,” it continues.
TMTG says it has signed at least 10 customer agreements for APIs since launch, charging mostly $60,000 to $100,000 a month for the subscription.
Trump’s social media company has pushed back against allegations of impropriety, with interim CEO Kevin McGurn telling investors Monday that “licensed real-time public data through commercial APIs is a well-established business practice across the technology, financial information, and media industries.”
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“Information from President Trump is disseminated by countless platforms and news outlets, many of which offer subscription APIs,” a TMTG spokesperson said.
“One of those channels is Truth Social, which was founded as an uncancellable haven for free speech after the President was unjustly de-platformed,” the statement continued, referring to Trump’s ban from Twitter, now X, in 2021, which has since been reversed. “Now, left-wing activists are trying to wrongfully weaponize the courts to censor him again and harm our shareholders.”