Media and Watchdog Sue Trump Over Monetizing Public Information on Truth Social
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A lawsuit in Manhattan challenges Trump's blatant profiteering from government information, as a service sells privileged early access to his Truth Social posts, raising serious constitutional and ethical concerns.
On Wednesday, The Intercept Media and the Freedom of the Press Association filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to stop a new Truth Social service that shamelessly offers subscribers paid, privileged early access to the president's posts. The complaint denounces the 'Truth API' as a tool for the wealthy and well-connected, granting them an unfair advantage in financial markets by monetizing what should be public, democratic information. Charging up to $100,000 per month for this access, the suit argues, is a flagrant violation of the First and Fifth Amendments and a gross abuse of presidential power.
The lawsuit exposes this arrangement as a scheme for the president and his inner circle to profit from the dissemination of government information that rightly belongs to the people. Named as defendants are not only Trump himself, but also his executive assistant Natalie Harp, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, the Executive Office of the President, and the White House Office—highlighting the deep entanglement of public office with private gain.
Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, boasted in July about the new service, which delivers early, machine-readable feeds of posts from the platform’s most influential accounts, including the White House and cabinet members. CEO Kevin McGurn openly admitted that the API gives paying clients access to public posts milliseconds before everyone else, and revealed that over ten lucrative agreements have already been signed, typically for $60,000 to $100,000 per month. The company is aggressively courting major tech firms and news organizations to expand this undemocratic paywall even further.
The complaint underscores that since taking office in January 2025, President Trump has posted between 9,000 and 11,000 times—often bypassing official White House channels—making his posts a primary, yet now commodified, source of government information. This lawsuit calls out the administration’s brazen attempt to turn public service into a profit machine for the few at the expense of democratic transparency.