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The Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) and The Intercept are suing President Donald Trump over Truth Social's recently announced Truth API, which gives paying subscribers early access to the president's posts."Truth API uses familiar, industry-standard delivery methods to deliver Truth Social posts to our customers in milliseconds," Trump Media said when announcing the feature last month. According to the lawsuit, the subscription violates the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution, which guarantee equal access to the president's announcements and prohibit the government from imposing unreasonable conditions on the availability of government benefits.
Engadget has asked the White House to comment on the lawsuit. We'll update this article if we hear back.
Besides claiming Truth API violates the Constitution, the lawsuit also says the Truth API harms both the FPF and The Intercept. The new subscription means both groups "face indefinitely delayed access to the president's latest posts" and "permanent bars to the president's archived posts" if they don't pay. That's why they're asking the court to declare the Truth API unconstitutional and unlawful and to prevent Trump and the other defendants in the suit (White House executive assistant Natalie J. Harp and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Daniel Scavino) from exclusively posting government information on Truth Social.
Trump Media and Technology Group announced the $100,000 per month Truth API in July 2026, declaring it "a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company." By the company's logic, Trump's habit of making announcements and policy decisions via Truth Social posts is valuable information for investors. The subscription also directly benefits Trump, according to the FPF. The president was a majority shareholder in Trump Media when it launched in 2021. When he was then reelected in 2024, control of his shares shifted to a trust that lists him as the sole beneficiary and his son Donald Trump Jr. as the sole trustee.
The lawsuit claims the company and Trump are entangled in other ways. Trump is "generally obligated to make any social media post on Truth Social and may not make the same post on another social media site for six hours," according to an agreement quoted in the filing. That makes the Truth API a further cash-in on what was already a questionable arrangement.