● Covered by 2 sources · 2 reportsMedium impact1 negative1 neutral
Nonprofit News Groups Sue Trump Over Truth Social API for Early Post Access
Key points
- Nonprofit news groups sued Donald Trump over Truth Social's "Truth API."
- The API charges up to $100,000/month for early access to posts.
- Lawsuit claims this violates First and Fifth Amendments.
- It alleges Trump profits from selling access to government information.
- High-frequency trading firms are among the first customers.
Lawsuit Filed Against Truth Social API
Nonprofit news organizations, The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, have filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump concerning Truth Social's "Truth API." The lawsuit alleges that this service, which provides early access to posts from Trump and other prominent users, is unconstitutional.
API Pricing and Access
Truth Social began charging customers up to $100,000 per month for the earliest access to posts. These posts can have immediate impacts on financial markets. The first customers for this service are primarily high-frequency trading firms, which could financially benefit from receiving official government news milliseconds before others.
Truth Media stated that "Truth API uses familiar, industry-standard delivery methods to deliver Truth Social posts to our customers in milliseconds."
Constitutional Allegations
The lawsuit claims that the "Truth API" scheme violates the First and Fifth Amendments of the US Constitution. These amendments guarantee equal access to presidential announcements and prohibit the government from imposing unreasonable conditions on the availability of government benefits. The plaintiffs argue that Trump is profiting by selling preferential access to government information, which prevents equal access.
The lawsuit states, "This scheme is profoundly corrupt. The President stands to gain financially by giving ‘market-moving’ government information to those who are willing and able to pay his personal company."
Impact on Information Access
The plaintiffs argue that the new subscription model harms them by delaying their access to information. The lawsuit also indicates that Truth Social intends to restrict web scraping tools, making its API the sole method for accessing archived posts that have been deleted or edited.
✨ This summary was generated by AI from the outlets' reporting listed below. It is not independently verified and may contain errors — check the original sources. How BrevFeed works →
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How outlets covered it
The Freedom of the Press Foundation and The Intercept are suing Donald Trump over Truth Social's Truth API, which provides paying subscribers with early access to his posts. The lawsuit claims this subscription violates the First and Fifth Amendments by restricting equal access to presidential announcements and harms the plaintiffs by delaying their access to information.
Nonprofit news organizations have sued Truth Social, alleging its "Truth API" scheme, which charges up to $100,000 per month for early access to posts from Donald Trump and other users, is unconstitutional. The lawsuit claims this practice allows Trump to profit by selling preferential access to government information, potentially impacting financial markets. This legal action challenges the platform's monetization strategy and its implications for public access to information.