Lawsuits Challenge Trump’s Truth Social Trading in Insider Information
NEWS & RESEARCH
On August 1, 2026, Trump Media & Technology Group launched "Truth API," a subscription service charging financial firms up to $100,000 per month for advance access to market-moving Truth Social posts from President Trump and other top accounts. Truth API will afford traders, hedge funds, and investment firms an advance look at posts from the platform’s 10 “highest-ranking” accounts, including Trump’s. While subscribers would get a head start by only a fraction of a second, that is sufficient for firms that use algorithmic programs to make instant stock trades. The move is intended to offset massive financial losses: In 2024, Truth Social lost nearly $400 million. Last year, it lost around $700 million. The company’s value is now less than one-fourth of what it was in 2024. The Truth API initiative sparked sharp backlash from financial executives and is prompting scrutiny in both the House and Senate as brazen corruption. The City of San Francisco is the latest to file suit on September 21, 2026, alleging that Trump Media & Technology has “knowingly created a marketplace for insider trading” in violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law. In August. 2026, the Freedom o the Press Foundation and The Intercept sued Trump and other White House officials contending that the First Amendment guarantees equal access to public information.
SOURCES: Inc. | The Intercept | New York Times
ANALYSIS & OPINION
Sens. Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren contend that the paid data feed gives wealthy Wall Street traders an unfair advantage by getting early access to market-moving posts. Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is launching an investigation, alleging that the president is trying to cash in on “the ultimate insider information.” His office has requested records regarding the API's development, pricing, and initial corporate subscribers. Raskin stated that “Trump is, once again, using [his office] to enrich in spectacular fashion himself and his family and corporate cronies, destroying the integrity of financial markets in the process.” Sens. Mark Warner has proposed legislation to ban to the Truth API initiative.
SOURCES: Inc. | The Intercept | New York Times
HOW TO FIX IT
Federal action:
To address these conflicts, advocates and lawmakers suggest:
Pass the No Preferential Release Of Federal Information for Transactions Act, or NO PROFIT Act, to bar the sale of early access to government information.
Pass the Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Act, or MEME Act, the Presidential Conflicts of Interest Act, and other conflict of interest reforms.
Introduce legislation that explicitly bans the sale of privileged, pre-public presidential communications or which applies traditional insider trading and SEC frameworks to executive platform feeds.
Mandate a blind trust for presidential investments and ensure strict compliance with the Ethics in Government Act.
Pass resolutions demanding that Trump comply with the Constitution’s Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clause.
Conduct oversight hearings into using the White House as vehicle for self-enrichment.
Congress should press financial regulators to investigate whether millisecond-ahead data delivery systems constitute illegal market manipulation or unfair informational advantages under federal securities laws.
Litigation:
Support the lawsuit filed by the City of San Francisco versus Trump Media & Technology Group under the California Unfair Competition Law to prevent wealthy traders from getting early access to government information.
Support the lawsuit filed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation and The Intercept against Trump and other White House officials under the Frist Amendment.
Legislation: S.5223 - NO PROFIT Act | H.R.1712 - MEME Act | S.1486 - Presidential Conflicts of Interest Act | H.Res.1186 (Resolution)
