{"id":852981,"date":"2026-08-12T20:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852981\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T20:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T20:54:10","slug":"donald-trump-sued-over-corrupt-and-unconstitutional-truth-social-instant-access-subscriptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/852981\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump sued over ‘corrupt and unconstitutional’ Truth Social instant access subscriptions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two US media groups are suing US President Donald Trump over his move to charge for early access to his often market-moving Truth Social posts.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, filed in New York by The Intercept and Freedom of the Press Foundation, states that the scheme is “extraordinary, corrupt and unconstitutional”.<\/p>\n

Subscribers to the paid service are supposed to get almost instantaneous access to Mr Trump’s messages on Truth Social, crucial seconds ahead of the general public.<\/p>\n

The billionaire US leader often uses the platform to announce huge news, ranging from developments in the Iran war to trade tariffs, all of which can instantly send market values tumbling or soaring.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Truth Social is one of the chief ways Donald Trump communicates with the public. (Reuters: Jonathan Ernst)<\/p>\n

Early access to the service can cost up to $US100,000 ($141,000) per month, according to the lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday, local time.<\/p>\n

At least five trading companies signed up shortly after the launch, according to The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

“This scheme is profoundly corrupt,” the court filing said.<\/p>\n

Why selling Truth Social access is causing controversy<\/a><\/p>\n

For up to $US100,000 per month, subscribers can receive the US president’s Truth Social posts milliseconds before everyone else. But experts say the bigger question is whether some traders are already getting information much earlier.<\/p>\n

“The President stands to gain financially by giving ‘market-moving’ government information to those who are willing and able to pay his personal company.”<\/p>\n

Trump Media and Technology Group, the company operating the platform, has dismissed concerns over the product, which is called Truth API and was first unveiled in mid-July.<\/p>\n

The scheme has further highlighted how Mr Trump and many of his close relatives have allegedly made billions of dollars in his second White House term through cryptocurrency ventures, property deals, stock trades and payouts from lawsuits.<\/p>\n

Prominent members of the Democratic Party have accused the president’s latest venture of being corrupt.<\/p>\n

Democratic senator Mark Warner announced last Tuesday on X that he has introduced a bill to the US Senate that would “crack down on this corruption and ensure all Americans have free and equal access to public announcements from government officials”.<\/p>\n

AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two US media groups are suing US President Donald Trump over his move to charge for early access…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,2490,423474,2462,423473,423475,423472,11974],"class_list":["post-852981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-donald-trump","tag-freedom-of-the-press-foundation","tag-lawsuit","tag-the-intercept","tag-trump-api","tag-trump-media-and-technology-group","tag-truth-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}