San Francisco has initiated legal action against Truth Social, the social media platform owned by Trump Media & Technology Group, challenging its practice of offering early access to posts made by former President Donald Trump and other high-profile users in exchange for payments that can reach $100,000 per month. The lawsuit, filed Monday by San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, contends that the platform’s paid service, known as Truth API, violates California’s Unfair Competition Law by creating an uneven marketplace that favors wealthy investors with privileged information.
Chiu asserted that the service essentially enables insider trading by providing select users a head start—measured in fractions of a second—on posts from Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and Donald Trump Jr. This advance access allows algorithm-driven trading firms to execute instantaneous stock market transactions ahead of the wider public, potentially disadvantaging average investors and retirement fund holders.
“They have knowingly created a marketplace for insider trading,” Chiu said, emphasizing the risk posed to ordinary Californians with retirement plans such as 401(k)s, 529 education accounts, and public pensions. The complaint highlights specific instances where Trump’s posts have influenced market movements, including an April 2025 message urging investors to buy stocks, followed hours later by an official announcement on tariff pauses, and a June 11 post about targeting Iran, which coincided with a surge in crude oil futures.
Trump Media, co-founded by the former president after his bans from other social media networks following the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, defended the Truth API program. A company spokesman dismissed the lawsuit as politically motivated and argued that the service provides access only to publicly available information, just fractionally faster than others. Kevin McGurn, interim CEO of Trump Media, described the early access as a “well-established business practice” during a recent investor call.
Despite Trump’s frequent postings—characterized by capitalized announcements and distinctive sign-offs—the platform has experienced declining user engagement, with monthly visitors dropping 36 percent from the previous year as of July. Financially, Trump Media reported a net loss of $238.1 million in the second quarter of 2025.
The controversy over Truth API has drawn bipartisan scrutiny, with Democrats and some Republicans in Congress expressing concern. Senators Mark Warner of Virginia and Alex Padilla of California have introduced legislation aiming to prohibit such paid early access to government-related information.
In addition to San Francisco’s suit, another legal challenge was filed last month in federal court by the Freedom of the Press Foundation and The Intercept. That suit contends that the First Amendment guarantees equal access to public information unless restrictions serve a legitimate government purpose, naming Trump and White House officials as defendants.
Chiu criticized the broader context of restricted information access under Trump’s administration, citing recent bans on major news outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from press briefings. “The fact that this has been allowed to happen is astonishing,” he said, underscoring the city’s effort to hold Truth Social accountable for the alleged unfair advantage.