The amicus brief supports a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by The Intercept Media and the Freedom of the Press Foundation against President Donald Trump and other administration officials.
The Legal Battle Over the Truth API Paywall
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, challenges the constitutionality of the Truth API service. Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, announced the service in July. It charges subscribers up to $100,000 per month for early, machine-readable access to market-moving posts from top accounts on the platform.
President Trump utilizes Truth Social as his primary method for communicating official government announcements, including foreign and domestic policy, military operations, ceasefires, and the appointment or removal of federal agency heads. Since returning to office in January 2025, Trump has published between 9,000 and 11,000 posts on the platform, frequently bypassing traditional White House press operations.
The civil complaint argues that this tiered access model is “extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional.” Plaintiffs contend that selling early notifications of official government statements violates both the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution by granting preferential access to those willing to pay exorbitant sums.
Arguments Presented in the EFF Amicus Brief
First, the brief establishes that modern government officials and agencies rely heavily on social media as an essential medium for official communication and public safety dissemination. Second, it asserts that the practice directly undermines the First Amendment guarantee that the public and press share a right to access public comments on equal terms.
According to the filing, lining the pockets of the president and his private company does not constitute a legitimate government interest capable of satisfying First Amendment scrutiny. The brief further emphasizes that delayed availability through secondary, public channels does not cure the constitutional violation, as mere delays in timely access still trigger strict legal review.
The EFF has advocated for equal access to official government social media posts since at least 2018, maintaining that offline standards of equal access must apply directly to digital public squares.
Corporate Scale and Enterprise Ambitions
During a quarterly earnings conference call, Trump Media CEO Kevin McGurn defended the utility of the system, stating that Truth API delivers public posts from top accounts in milliseconds. McGurn reported that the company had already secured more than 10 customer agreements priced between $60,000 and $100,000 per month.
Alongside President Trump, the platform’s top 10 accounts feeding into the API include the White House, Vice President JD Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy. The lawsuit also names White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, executive assistant Natalie Harp, the Executive Office of the President, and the White House Office as defendants.
McGurn noted during the call that Trump Media is actively discussing broader third-party distribution deals with hyperscalers, large news organizations, and developers of large language models, signaling an expansion of the commercialized data feed.
