Trump's Posts Sold for $100,000 Monthly Fee! Truth Social Sued for Alleged Unconstitutionality

Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, is facing a lawsuit over its high-priced information service. On Wednesday, news outlet The Intercept Media and nonprofit organization Freedom of the Press Foundation filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, demanding that Trump Media & Technology Group (Trump Media & Technology Group, DJT-US) stop selling priority access to Trump’s posts to paying customers. Plaintiffs criticized the arrangement as both "corrupt" and unconstitutional.

In July, Trump Media announced the launch of Truth API, a service that delivers publicly posted content from top Truth Social accounts to subscribers via machine-readable data streams within milliseconds. The service costs between $60,000 and $100,000 per month, marketed as enabling clients to receive Trump’s posts—potentially market-moving—faster than others.

Trump is the largest shareholder in Trump Media, holding shares through the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, valued at approximately $1 billion. The trust is managed by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. Plaintiffs argue that Trump may be leveraging time-sensitive access to official information to generate profits for his own business.

Paying $100,000 a month for policy updates—government information as a paid privilege

The complaint states that Trump frequently uses Truth Social to announce government policies, military actions, and other major decisions—posts capable of triggering financial market fluctuations. Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has posted between 9,000 and 11,000 messages on the platform, many of which were not simultaneously released through other official White House channels, making Truth Social the sole source for certain official information.

Plaintiffs argue that providing early access to official announcements exclusively to high-paying customers lacks legitimate governmental interest and may violate the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit asserts that the First Amendment guarantees equal media access to the president’s public statements, and that the government cannot sell early access to public information as a commodity.

Currently, Truth API covers the 10 most popular accounts on Truth Social. In addition to Trump, these include the White House, Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The Intercept says the inability to access official messages in real time harms its newsgathering and live reporting capabilities. The Freedom of the Press Foundation operates a project tracking Trump’s criticism of media outlets and argues that the speed advantage given to paying customers impedes its work.

Trump Media claims access is only "slightly faster"—over 10 contracts already signed

Kevin McGurn, CEO of Trump Media, said during a recent earnings call that Truth API delivers content already publicly posted, and paying customers gain only a "slight edge" in timing. The company has already signed more than 10 client contracts, each with monthly fees ranging from $60,000 to $100,000.

McGurn revealed that the company is in talks with hyperscale cloud providers, major news organizations, and large language model developers. The next phase of Truth API aims to expand third-party distribution channels, potentially integrating with news feeds, financial data terminals, and professional publications to increase the service’s visibility.

Trump Media also countered that presidential information is already widely disseminated through numerous platforms and news outlets, many of which offer paid API services. The company claims Truth Social was created to protect free speech after Trump was banned from other platforms.

The two plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that the Trump administration’s practice of releasing official information solely through Truth Social is unconstitutional and to prohibit the government from continuing such dissemination. Defendants include Trump, as well as Presidential Assistant Natalie Harp, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, the Office of the President, and the White House Office.

The lawsuit comes as Trump Media earlier this week reported a second-quarter loss of $238 million, primarily due to a sharp decline in the value of its cryptocurrency holdings.