Trump sued over ‘selling priority access to news he himself generates for the benefit of a private company he controls’

President Donald Trump was sued in federal court on Wednesday, seeking an injunction to halt his new paid service at Truth Social. The service offers paying customers exclusive, early access to his posts on U.S. policy, including matters such as war and tariffs. The lawsuit argues that the paid subscription service conflicts with the First Amendment's right to equal access to a president's comments and the Fifth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable charges for government benefits.

The new subscription service, called Truth API, was introduced earlier this month and charges Wall Street firms up to $100,000 per month to gain advantage over others in trading off the market-moving posts. According to Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the lawsuit was filed along with news outlet The Intercept, as they view Trump's attempt to profit off the presidency as blatantly corrupt and unconstitutional.

Trump Media & Technology, the parent company of Truth Social, claims that selling fast access to traders is common in the industry and that the plaintiffs are attempting to silence the president. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs request that the Trump Media be compelled to cease the new paid service, known as Truth API, which provides access to posts milliseconds faster than others.

Additionally, the lawsuit challenges Trump's exclusive six-hour access to his posts on Truth Social before they are distributed elsewhere, asking the court to halt him from posting government information exclusively on his own site. Trump is the largest shareholder of Trump Media, owning over 40% of its shares through a trust. Even before the new API service launched, ethics watchdogs had criticized Trump's use of Truth Social for potential profit-making, similar to other ventures like crypto-related businesses.