<p class="wp-block-paragraph">San Francisco filed a lawsuit on September 22, 2026, challenging the Trump Media & Technology Group's (TMTG) right to offer paid subscription services, alleging that it promotes illegal insider trading.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The lawsuit seeks to block TMTG from charging between $60,000 and $100,000 per month for subscriptions that provide instant access to announcements from President Donald Trump and nine other government officials on the Truth Social platform. The Truth API, which was launched in August, is similar to data feeds provided by other social media platforms and is used by traders for real-time financial data.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">City Attorney David Chiu stated, "This scheme turns the public trust into private profit. It is corruption, plain and simple. Californians should not be forced to compete against wealthy trading firms buying early access to market-moving information. We are acting decisively to stop this corruption and protect Californians, who work hard, save, and invest responsibly." The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco Superior Court.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">TMTG responded to the lawsuit, 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." Trump is the largest shareholder in TMTG and a co-founder of Truth Social.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Chiu characterized the subscription as a "pay-to-play scheme for early access to the president’s market-moving government decisions," claiming it violates California’s Unfair Competition Law. He is seeking an injunction against the paid access and civil penalties of $2,500 for violations.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Chiu further noted, "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." He described TMTG's approach as unprecedented in monetizing nonpublic information obtained through government service.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">San Francisco is not the only entity challenging Truth Social’s subscription plan. The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation filed a lawsuit last month, alleging that selling priority access to the president’s messages is "extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional." The complaint claims that the service violates the First and Fifth Amendments by directing market-sensitive information to paying clients first for "unreasonable sums." </p>