A news outlet and a press freedom organization are suing the White House, President Donald Trump and a number of other people over a decision by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) to sell early access to official government announcements made through Trump’s Truth Social account.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) and the watchdog publication The Intercept, claims the service called Truth API violates the First and Fifth Amendments by giving paying customers preferential access to public statements from the president and other government officials. The plaintiffs are asking the court to block Trump and White House employees from carrying out the plan.
Truth API was announced last month by the Chief Executive Officer of Truth Social parent Trump Media & Technology Group. The service offers early access to “market-moving” posts from Trump and other officials for up to $100,000 per month, according to the lawsuit. The service launched August 1 and has already signed up 10 customers, the plaintiffs said.
The lawsuit says Trump has used Truth Social as a primary channel for official communications since returning to office, including announcements involving agency appointments and firings, military actions and foreign policy. The plaintiffs argue those statements are public information and cannot be placed behind a paid priority-access system.
“A president selling priority access to news he himself generates for the benefit of a private company he controls is so blatantly corrupt and unconstitutional that it would have been hard to even fathom just a few years ago,” Seth Stern, the Chief of Advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement.
He noted the arrangement is especially troubling because Trump frequently uses Truth Social to criticize journalists and announce plans involving lawsuits or investigations of members of the press.
“Then, he makes them wait in line behind paying customers to find out about it unless they’re willing to subsidize the platform he uses to attack them,” Stern said. “This brazen grift targets not only the markets but the First Amendment. It cannot stand.”
The lawsuit also cites Trump’s financial interest in Trump Media. The plaintiffs said Trump owns the largest stake in the company through The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, which holds about 41.43 percent of Trump Media shares valued at more than $1 billion. Trump is the sole beneficiary of the trust, according to the complaint.
The Intercept Chief Legal Officer David Bralow said the case centers on equal public access to government information.
“Nothing could be more antithetical to the free, independent press than the president charging for early access to his public announcements,” Bralow said. “Through this litigation, The Intercept and its journalists are proud to hold the line on a fundamental proposition: Public information belongs to the public.”
The plaintiffs are represented by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, the Public Integrity Project and Altshuler Berzon LLP.
