Media groups sue Trump over paid access to public social media posts

What the report says

The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation have filed a federal lawsuit in the United States seeking to stop President Donald Trump’s social media company from selling advance access to his posts. According to Al Jazeera, the case targets Truth API, a subscription service linked to Trump Media and Technology Group that was launched on August 1 after being announced in July.

The complaint says the service lets paying customers see posts from Trump and other prominent Truth Social accounts in real time, with prices reportedly ranging from about $60,000 to $100,000 a month. The plaintiffs argue that this gives unfair preferential access to public-interest information and could amount to a constitutional violation by limiting equal access to presidential announcements. The suit also names White House aide Natalie Harp and Deputy Chief of Staff Daniel Scavino in an official capacity.

Al Jazeera reported that the filing frames the issue as both a press freedom concern and a question of whether the government can charge arbitrary sums for access to information that is part of public communication. The complaint says Trump should not be allowed to profit personally from material that may move markets or affect policy debates.

The case is set to be heard in federal court in the Southern District of New York. Trump Media said presidential communications already appear across many platforms, some of them subscription-based. The White House had not commented at the time of the report.