San Francisco\u2019s city attorney is urging a state court to block Trump\u2019s social media platform Truth Social from offering customers who pay $100,000 per month priority access to the president\u2019s and other high-level officials\u2019 posts before they\u2019re available to other users. <\/p>\n
Trump Media & Technology Group<\/a> is aiding and abetting Trump\u2019s violations of federal ethics and anti-corruption law and violating other federal laws that protect against insider trading, city attorney David Chiu said in the lawsuit filed<\/a> in San Francisco Superior Court<\/p>\n The lawsuit comes on the heels of a similar one filed in federal court last week<\/a> where two nonprofits challenged the constitutionality of the paid service called \u201cTruth API.\u201d <\/p>\n Providing early access to subscribers of \u201cannouncements of consequential government decisions that can move financial markets\u201d would create \u201ca financial gain for Trump Media,\u201d as well as for President Donald Trump, who owns 41% of Trump Media through a revocable trust in which he is the sole beneficiary, the lawsuit said. <\/p>\n Trump Media\u2019s \u201ccreation and operation of a commercial mechanism that monetizes preferential access to information derived from Trump\u2019s government service while that information remains unavailable to the general public violates the public trust and California\u2019s Unfair Competition Law, which prohibits unlawful and unfair business practices,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n Trump Media didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n Market Moving Info<\/p>\n The city is seeking an order enjoining paid access to Trump\u2019s post and $2,500 in civil penalties for each behind-a-subscription post that allegedly violates California\u2019s Unfair Competition Law.<\/p>\n The key theory of the complaint is that Trump\u2019s posts are tantamount to insider trading and unfair business practices. The state\u2019s law should apply to Trump due to the market-moving power of announcements from a president who exercises broad authority over trade sanctions and cash infusions into companies, they argue.<\/p>\n The complaint points to a May 2025 post breaking the news of the US Steel and Nippon Steel merger which sent the American company\u2019s stock soaring 22.5%. It also cites Trump\u2019s January 2026 post in which he released monthly employment numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 12 hours before their official release to the public. <\/p>\n \u201cTruth API disadvantages regular investors, including individuals who hold investments via pension funds, 401(k) plans, and other retirement funds, whose investment vehicles do not and\/or cannot obtain Truth API\u2019s early-access information,\u201d the complaint said. <\/p>\n On Monday a group of former prosecutors and federal agents filed an amicus brief<\/a> in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York arguing the paid subscription could violate federal securities laws, the Trade Secrets Act, and could constitute illegal outside compensation for federal employment. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is no legitimate, let alone significant, government interest in allowing public officials to profit personally by selling early access to official government announcements,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n Platkin LLP, Washington Litigation Group, and Democracy Defenders Fund represent the city alongside the San Francisco City Attorney\u2019s Office. <\/p>\n