Trump Sued Over Faster Access To Truth Social Posts
President Donald Trump on Wednesday was sued by two media groups over the Truth Social parent’s plan to sell faster access to his social media posts, calling the proposal “extraordinary, corrupt and unconstitutional.”
The Intercept Media and nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation, in a complaint filed Wednesday in the U.S. Southern District of New York, asked the court to block the plan, alleging the president “stands to gain financially by giving ‘market-moving’ government information to those who are willing and able to pay his personal company.”
Trump Media & Technology Group announced in July it would offer subscribers who paid up to $100,000 each month early access to Trump’s Truth Social posts, calling the program “Truth API” and saying it was “designed for organizations most impacted by the cost of a delay in information.”
The Intercept, in a statement announcing the lawsuit, accused Trump of violating the First Amendment right of journalists and other members of the public by blocking equal access to official information.
Ben Muessig, editor-in-chief of The Intercept, said in a statement: “Trump is trying to enrich himself by privatizing government information that he has no right to sell. We won’t let it stand.”
Trump Media CEO Kevin McGurn said during the firm’s earnings call on Monday that more than 10 companies had reached agreements for Truth API, “generally in the range of $60,000 to $100,000 a month.” McGurn did not disclose which companies had signed up for the plan, but noted Trump Media was in active discussions with large news organizations and developers of large language models.
Trump has used his Truth Social platform to announce appointments of senior administration officials, bombing campaigns in Iran and new tariffs. Recent posts by Trump about the war in Iran have moved markets and oil prices, influencing inflation in recent months. Trump Media briefly planned to spin Truth Social off as its own company, but backed off from the plan in June “after further evaluation.” The firm’s stock dropped to a two-week low on Monday after it reported another quarterly loss, totaling $238.1 million for its latest quarter, with more than $190 million in losses attributed to unrealized losses on digital assets and equity securities.