San Francisco Sues Trump to Stop Early Access to Market-Moving Truth Social Posts
San Francisco is suing President Donald Trump’s media company over a paid service that gives subscribers who pay $100,000 a month early access to the president’s Truth Social posts.
City Attorney David Chiu filed the lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court on Monday against Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns and operates Truth Social.
Chiu is asking the court to prohibit Trump Media from offering “Truth API” or a similar service, as well as monetary damages for its violations of the public trust and California’s unfair competition law.
“Trump Media created a marketplace that enables insider trading, which Trump directly profits from,” Chiu said in a statement. “This scheme turns the public trust into private profit. It is corruption, plain and simple.”
Chiu’s office, along with other attorneys, including from the Democracy Defenders Fund, filed the suit on behalf of the people of California, who he said are being disadvantaged by the corrupt business practice. He said that he hopes that the court’s decision “could hopefully protect all Americans” in the process.
In August, Trump launched “Truth API,” a feed that delivers posts from the “ten most influential accounts” on his social media platform, Truth Social, to users who pay $100,000 a month, before the same information is delivered to other users.
According to the lawsuit, Trump Media Interim CEO Kevin McGurn “expressly stated that Truth API pushes out information at a ‘50 millisecond advantage’ that ‘goes right into an algorithmic trading platform,’” allowing subscribers to gain an advantage in the financial market by trading on that information.
The accounts have included Trump’s, along with other executive branch officials, including Vice President JD Vance, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and outgoing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, according to the complaint.
Chiu alleges that Truth Social is aiding and abetting Trump’s violation of federal ethics and anti-corruption law, which prohibits federal officials from profiting off of nonpublic information they obtain through government service.
It also says Trump Media is violating other federal laws protecting against insider trading that prohibit selling nonpublic information from people with a duty of trust to individuals who might trade it for unfair financial advantage.
The suit alleges that Trump, who owns 41% of Trump Media, has made “numerous” announcements of policy decisions or official government information via posts on Truth Social that have influenced financial markets — including around high country-by-country tariffs in 2025, and conversations with international leaders regarding the war in Iran.
Chiu said Tuesday that the service is particularly troubling because Truth Social is “often the first and only venue where the president announces major federal actions” as the White House moves to limit access to traditional media outlets. He said it is also possible, and “troubling,” that foreign actors could be accessing the subscription service.
“When the President of the United States makes decisions that can move markets, access to that information should not be something wealthy traders can buy before everyone else,” said Matt Platkin, whose firm, Platkin LLP, is also representing California residents in the suit. “Trump Media should not be able to monetize presidential communications by selling Wall Street an early look at Truth Social posts.
In a statement, Trump Media spokesperson Shannon Device said, “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.”
Last month, The Intercept and Freedom of the Press Foundation filed a similar lawsuit in federal court aimed at stopping Trump Media from monetizing official government statements.
KQED’s Brian Krans contributed to this report.