President Donald Trump’s expensive subscription for instant access to his Truth Social posts is unconstitutional, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation jointly sued Trump and his White House social media team for restricting their access to the president’s posts on Truth Social. The plaintiffs claim Trump violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights.
Trump frequently uses his company’s platform to announce policy decisions, executive orders, personnel changes and war declarations.
Trump Media, which owns Truth Social, began selling direct access to its application programming interface (API) last quarter. The company said subscribers would get real-time access to Trump’s social media posts and see posts milliseconds after they’re posted. It’s not clear how long the president’s posts are delayed for the general public.
But the length of time to publicize the posts, no matter how short, doesn’t matter, according to Nikhel Sus, chief counsel for Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington, which represents the plaintiffs in Wednesday’s lawsuit. The fact that a gap exists at all is unconstitutional, he argues.
