San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu filed suit Monday against Trump Media & Technology Group, asking a state court to block the company from selling paying customers priority access to posts from President Donald Trump and other top officials before the general public can see them. The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, targets a subscription service called Truth API that charges up to $100,000 a month for early access to announcements that can move financial markets.
According to Bloomberg Law, the case — captioned California v. Trump Media & Tech Grp. — accuses the company of aiding and abetting violations of federal ethics and anti-corruption law, as well as violating federal insider trading protections. Chiu said the company is “aiding and abetting” Trump's alleged violations of federal ethics and anti-corruption law, per the same account. The suit leans on California's Unfair Competition Law, which prohibits unlawful and unfair business practices and gives local prosecutors broad authority to seek injunctions against companies operating in the state, according to SFGate.
Truth API launched August 1, 2026, and offers subscribers real-time, priority access to social media posts before they reach the public — for $100,000 per month, or $60,000 per month under a three-year contract. Trump Media disclosed on an August 2026 earnings call that at least 10 corporate entities had already signed up, as reported by Newsweek.
Whose Posts Are Being Sold
The monetized feed covers official accounts belonging to the White House itself along with senior figures including Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and FBI Director Kash Patel, Newsweek reports. Paying subscribers can see announcements from these accounts before they reach the public.
Bloomberg Law notes that Truth API provides subscribers early access to announcements of consequential government decisions capable of moving financial markets, and that this access creates financial gain for both Trump Media and Donald Trump personally. Trump holds a 41% stake in the company through a revocable trust managed by Donald Trump Jr., of which he is the sole beneficiary, according to Bloomberg Law. Chiu's filing alleges Trump Media is monetizing preferential access to information derived from Trump's government service that remains unavailable to the ordinary public, a practice the suit says violates the public trust as well as California's unfair competition statute.
A Company Losing Money, Defending a New Revenue Stream
Trump Media loses hundreds of millions of dollars each quarter. The company publicly defended Truth API in August, arguing that selling high-speed data feeds is standard practice among media companies and characterizing the lawsuits as political attempts to silence the president, per AP News. Financial wire services and social platforms do routinely offer paid data feeds to institutional financial clients, the outlet notes. Trump Media issued a statement responding to the lawsuit, Bloomberg Law reports.
Prosecutors and Lawmakers Call It Insider Trading
The San Francisco suit arrives alongside a widening set of legal challenges. The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation filed a federal lawsuit challenging Truth API on First and Fifth Amendment grounds, arguing the public has a constitutional right to equal access to presidential communications, according to the Maryland Daily Record. On September 17, before San Francisco filed its suit, watchdog groups American Oversight and Campaign for Accountability filed a separate federal lawsuit naming White House executive assistant Natalie Harp — an aide who allegedly helps Trump post — as a co-defendant, Newsweek reported.
A group of former prosecutors and federal agents filed an amicus brief on September 21, 2026, in ongoing federal court proceedings in New York, arguing that the paid subscription could violate federal securities laws, the Trade Secrets Act, and rules against outside compensation, according to CBS News. In late July, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff urged the SEC to investigate Truth API for potential securities fraud, SFGate reports. Lawmakers argue the arrangement disadvantages everyday retail investors holding 401(k) and pension accounts.
A State-Court Legal Strategy
The Truth Media suit gives Chiu a state-court route to pursue the company directly under a consumer protection statute rather than relying on the constitutional claims in the Manhattan case or the separate proceedings in the Southern District of New York.
