A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in New York challenges a plan to sell early access to President Trump’s posts on Truth Social for up to $100,000 a month, arguing the First Amendment “guarantees equal access to the President’s public announcements.”
The lawsuit also charged Mr. Trump “stands to gain financially by giving ‘market-moving’ government information to those who are willing and able to pay his personal company.” The complaint was filed by Freedom of The Press Foundation and The Intercept.
The lawsuit noted that since Mr. Trump returned to the White House in 2025, he has published thousands of posts on Truth Social that were not followed up by any official announcement from the White House. “In other words, President Trump’s posts are the only way to get official government news,” the lawsuit said.
In the complaint, lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that the First Amendment requires any restriction on equal access to public information to “serve a legitimate governmental purpose.” Selling early access to Mr. Trump’s posts to private buyers does not meet that constitutional test, they said.
In a statement, a company spokesman said “left wing activists are trying to wrongly weaponize the courts to censor” Mr. Trump and to harm the company’s shareholders.
Mr. Trump is the largest shareholder in Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social. His eldest son Donald Jr. is a board member and oversees a trust that controls his father’s stake.
The lawsuit comes after weeks of criticism from some Congressional Democrats, who said the fast-feed service would give an unfair market advantage to some traders. Some have also said Trump Media is attempting to boost its sagging stock price by improperly monetizing Mr. Trump’s posts.
The company, which has lost money ever since it went public in 2024, said in a conference call with investors on Monday that the criticism of the new product is misplaced. During the call, Kevin McGurn, the company’s interim chief executive, said, “Our customers will get published and publicly available posts fractionally faster” than everyone else. He added that this is a “well-established business practice.”
The company said that more than 10 customers — mostly trading firms — have signed up for the service. The company also said several news organizations have inquired about buying the product.
Trading firms that rely on algorithmic programs can use the new Truth Social product to make lightning-fast trades tied to Mr. Trump’s policy announcements that contain potential market-moving information. For these high-frequency trading firms, being able to trade faster than the competition can mean substantial profits.
Trump Media has not disclosed the names of its customers. It also has said the new product will give customers early access to other high-profile posters on Truth Social.
Ever since its debut in 2022, the main draw on Truth Social has been Mr. Trump, but the platform has lagged well behind X, Threads and Bluesky in getting new users. And lately traffic to Truth Social has dropped dramatically. In July, the overall number of monthly visitors to Truth Social was down about 36 percent from a year ago, according to estimates by the online tracking firm Similarweb. Monthly visitors to the site also fell in June as well.
The falloff in Truth Social traffic comes as Trump Media continues to lose money and struggles to generate revenue. In the second quarter ended June 30, the company posted a net loss of $238.1 million, largely driven by the decline in value of a substantial investment Trump Media made in Bitcoin last year. The company took in $1.7 million in revenue in the same period, most of that tied to advertising on Truth Social.