Trump Faces Lawsuit Over $100,000 Truth Social Feed
New York, NY – Former President Donald Trump has been sued in federal court in Manhattan over Truth API, a service that provides paying subscribers with access to his Truth Social posts for up to $100,000 per month. The lawsuit, filed on August 12, alleges the arrangement is “extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional.”
The complaint was brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), in conjunction with Yale Law School’s Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, the Public Integrity Project, and the law firm Altshuler Berzon LLP.
Plaintiffs argue that the First Amendment guarantees equal access to presidential announcements and that the Fifth Amendment prohibits charging exorbitant fees for such information. They are seeking a court order to halt the program.
Trump Media launched Truth API on August 1 as a business-to-business subscription service offering low-latency access to posts from the ten most-followed accounts on Truth Social. This list includes accounts such as @realDonaldTrump, @WhiteHouse, and Vice President JD Vance. The service costs $100,000 per month, with a discounted rate of $60,000 annually for customers committing to a three-year term.
Kevin McGurn, interim Chief Executive Officer of Trump Media, stated in the company’s second-quarter earnings release that more than ten customers have already signed up. He told Axios in an interview that the primary direct buyers are high-frequency trading firms utilizing the posts to inform their algorithmic trading strategies. Trump Media has filed its disclosures with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
McGurn also indicated that the company intends to disrupt web scrapers that collect the same posts without charge. “We’re going to create a lot of friction for those folks that aren’t coming to us directly,” he said.
During the earnings call, McGurn revealed that Trump Media is exploring licensing the feed to prediction market operators and is considering deals with large language model developers. The lawsuit quotes these remarks, characterizing the prediction market plan as a means to facilitate betting on presidential announcements.
In related news, Trump Media terminated its venture with Crypto.com on August 7. Following this development, Cronos (CRO), the cryptocurrency associated with Crypto.com, fell below $0.05, its lowest point since October 2023. The two companies now plan a marketing agreement that will feature Crypto.com’s prediction markets on the Truth Social platform, replacing an embedded integration announced in October 2025, which had previously boosted CRO by 10% in an hour.
McGurn acknowledged the competitive landscape, noting that the sector is already crowded with established companies, and highlighted Intercontinental Exchange’s commitment of approximately $2 billion to Polymarket.
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