San Francisco Sues Trump Media Over Alleged 'Pay-to-Play' Truth Social Service
City attorney David Chiu claims the paid subscription service gives wealthy subscribers an unfair advantage through early access to President Trump's posts.
San Francisco has filed a lawsuit against Trump Media, alleging that its Truth Social subscription service operates as a "pay-to-play scheme" by granting paying customers early access to President Donald Trump's posts.
City Attorney David Chiu announced the lawsuit Tuesday, stating that the Truth API service allows subscribers to receive Trump's market-moving posts before they are publicly available. The lawsuit seeks to block the service and impose civil penalties under California's Unfair Competition Law. Chiu asserted that the service provides wealthy subscribers with an "unfair advantage" by offering early access to information before it reaches the general public.
The monthly subscription, rolled out in August, costs between $60,000 and $100,000 and provides early access to posts from Truth Social accounts with significant followings, including Trump's.
"No ordinary person can pay that fee," Chiu said during a press conference. "Now the early subscribers are largely high-frequency trading firms with the technology to analyze that information and to make trades within microseconds." He added that Trump owns approximately 41% of Trump Media and is "personally benefiting from this business scheme."
A spokesperson for Trump Media dismissed the allegations, stating, "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."
The lawsuit was filed on the same day that dozens of former federal prosecutors and agents submitted a court brief supporting a separate lawsuit concerning Truth API, according to CBS News. That separate lawsuit, brought by The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, alleges that the paid service violates the First and Fifth Amendments.
Representatives for The Trump Organization and Chiu's office were not immediately available for comment. A White House spokesperson referred Fox News Digital to Trump Media and The Trump Organization for comment.