Media groups sue Truth Social over $100,000-a-month early access to Trump posts

US media organizations have filed a lawsuit seeking to block Truth Social from selling early access to President Donald Trump's posts for up to $100,000 a month, arguing that allowing paying investors to see market-moving government announcements before the general public violates the Constitution.

Bloomberg and AFP reported Wednesday that The Intercept Media and the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation filed the suit against Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the operator of Truth Social, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The plaintiffs said TMTG's practice of selling faster access to Trump's Truth Social posts — ahead of ordinary users — was "unprecedented, corrupt and unconstitutional."

At the center of the controversy is the "Truth API," a paid service TMTG launched earlier this month. For a subscription of up to $100,000 a month, subscribers receive Trump's Truth Social posts in milliseconds — fractions of a second faster than regular users.

For financial firms that trade stocks, bonds, currencies and raw materials in fractions of a second, gaining even a few milliseconds' head start on a presidential policy announcement can translate directly into profit. Trump's Truth Social posts have in effect become a high-value financial information product sold to the highest bidder.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs said the president "can profit financially by providing 'market-moving' government information to those willing and able to pay his private company."

The suit also takes aim at Trump's use of Truth Social as his primary channel for major policy announcements.

Trump, who has about 13 million followers on the platform, has used Truth Social to announce key decisions on tariffs and trade policy as well as diplomacy and national security. His positions on military confrontations and negotiations with Iran — a key variable driving international oil prices in recent months — have largely been disclosed through Truth Social.

Financial markets have repeatedly moved the moment Trump posts, making the speed at which investors can obtain his posts valuable in itself. The Truth API is designed precisely to meet that demand.

The plaintiffs argued that the arrangement — in which the president announces market-sensitive government information through a private platform and allows paying users to see it first — violates the equal right of access to presidential public speech guaranteed by the First Amendment.

They asked the court to declare it unconstitutional for government information to be posted exclusively on Truth Social, and to ban the service that gives paying users priority access to the president's posts.

Trump's financial ties to TMTG are also central to the lawsuit.

Trump is TMTG's largest shareholder, holding roughly 41% of the company — a stake valued at approximately $1 billion. That stake is currently held in a trust managed by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

The plaintiffs contend that policy information Trump produces as a sitting president enhances the value of a paid product offered by a company in which he is the largest shareholder, and that this in turn benefits him financially.

The lawsuit is also notable for extending the long-running conflict-of-interest debate over Trump's use of Truth Social as a policy announcement vehicle into the realm of information-access speed. With presidential announcements capable of moving financial markets instantly, the case puts before a court the question of whether a private company can charge for milliseconds of advantage in accessing government information.