The city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit Monday against Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, over a service that gives paying users early access to President Trump’s posts for $100,000.
City Attorney David Chiu argued that TMTG violated California’s Unfair Competition Law, which the suit describes as a state law against insider trading. The lawsuit alleges the company set the price for early access to profit for itself, while wealthy traders get to view government information before the general public.
“These everyday investors are placed at a substantial disadvantage to sophisticated firms willing and able to pay extraordinary sums for advanced access to market-moving information,” Chiu wrote in the lawsuit.
“Trump Media’s scheme is unprecedented in its monetization of nonpublic information obtained through government service and sold on the private market,” he added.
In July, TMTG announced the launch of “Truth API,” a direct data feed designed to give investment firms “real-time access to posts from the highest-ranking Truth Social accounts.” The company also offered a discounted $60,000 plan for client firms willing to sign a three-year contract.
The lawsuit points to one specific Truth Social post as an example of how Trump’s posts can move the stock market. On April 9, 2025, Trump posted, “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!” The post went live before Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs, and the stock market rose later that day.
“In fact, there are numerous examples where Trump’s announcement of a policy decision or official government information on Truth Social –– information that, until the post, was nonpublic, influenced financial, securities and other trading markets,” the lawsuit states.
Trump is the company’s largest shareholder and co-founded Truth Social after other major tech companies banned him from their platforms immediately following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Those platforms have since reinstated him.
TMTG fired back at the lawsuit in a statement to The New York Times.
“The people of California should outsource their future lawsuits to AI chatbots who, unlike the left-wing activists masquerading as attorneys who filed this lawsuit, will grasp the basic distinction between public and nonpublic information,” a TMTG spokesperson said.
Chiu’s lawsuit also cited criticism of the “Truth API” plan from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including some Republicans.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said in July that he viewed the plan as “wrong” and “a form of buying access.” Cassidy made the comments after losing his primary earlier this year to a Trump-backed candidate.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also raised concerns about the plan.
“Think it through,” Murkowski previously said. “You are talking about the ability to move markets when you’re advancing information. This is where we’re getting $100,000 for you to buy your visa to be a teacher in a place like Alaska. We don’t really want to be that place where everything comes down to pay for play.”
The legal fight sets up a clash between San Francisco and the president’s media company over whether Trump’s social media posts amount to public or nonpublic information. The city argues that selling early access gives wealthy firms an unfair edge over everyday investors, while TMTG maintains that the lawsuit fundamentally misunderstands the difference between the two.
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