Lawsuit seeks to ban Trump Media from charging for early access to president's posts on U.S. policy
- A federal lawsuit in New York seeks to stop Donald Trump and Trump Media from selling paid early access to his posts about U.S. policy on Truth Social.
- The complaint says the new Truth API service gives paying customers, including Wall Street firms, access to market-moving posts milliseconds earlier and can cost as much as $100,000 a month.
- The plaintiffs, the Freedom of the Press Foundation and The Intercept, say the arrangement violates the Constitution because official presidential announcements should be available to everyone at the same time.
- Trump Media says selling faster access through subscription APIs is common in the industry and argues the lawsuit is an attempt to censor the president and hurt shareholders.
- The case comes as Trump Media loses hundreds of millions of dollars per quarter and its stock has fallen below $10 from $62 after going public two years ago.
A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York seeks to block Donald Trump and Trump Media from charging for early access to his posts on U.S. policy. The complaint targets a new paid Truth Social service that gives subscribers, including Wall Street firms, a few milliseconds of advance access to posts about war, tariffs and other issues.
The plaintiffs, the Freedom of the Press Foundation and The Intercept, argue that the setup gives private buyers priority access to presidential statements that should be available to the public at the same time. They say the arrangement violates the First and Fifth Amendments and ask the court to end the Truth API service.
Trump Media said the practice of selling faster access through subscription APIs is standard in the industry and accused the plaintiffs of trying to silence the president. The company also said it is being unfairly targeted and that the lawsuit could harm shareholders.
The case arrives while Trump Media is under financial pressure, with quarterly losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars and a stock price that has dropped sharply since its public listing. For the stock, the lawsuit is a potential near-term negative because it adds legal risk around a new revenue source.
诉讼寻求禁止特朗普媒体就总统有关美国政策的帖子提前访问收费
周三在纽约提起的一起联邦诉讼，要求阻止唐纳德·特朗普和特朗普媒体公司就其有关美国政策的帖子收取提前访问费用。起诉书针对的是 Truth Social 新推出的付费服务，该服务让订阅者，包括华尔街公司，能比其他人早几毫秒看到涉及战争、关税等议题的帖子。
原告新闻自由基金会和《截击》网站认为，这种安排让私人买家优先看到总统表态，而这些信息应当同时向公众开放。他们称该做法违反美国宪法第一和第五修正案，并请求法院终止 Truth API 服务。
特朗普媒体回应称，通过订阅式 API 出售更快访问权在行业内很常见，并指责原告试图压制总统。公司还表示自己受到不公平针对，这起诉讼会损害股东利益。
该案发生时，特朗普媒体正面临财务压力，每季度亏损数亿美元，股价也自两年前上市以来大幅回落。对股票市场而言，这起诉讼对特朗普媒体股价短期构成偏利空，因为它给公司新的收入来源增加了法律风险。