Judge weighs if Trump can charge $100K for early access to Truth Social posts
Judge questioned if Trump delaying access to Truth Social posts by a second harms the press.
Judge questioned if Trump delaying access to Truth Social posts by a second harms the press.
The short version
- Likely in the next few weeks, a federal judge will decide if Donald Trump can become the first president to personally profit from selling early access to government information in his social media posts.
- At a hearing Wednesday, Department of Justice civil attorney Brantley Mayers argued that there was no conflict whatsoever with Trump charging up to $100,000 monthly for instant API access to Truth Social posts that often break news from his administration.
- Trump is the largest stakeholder and majority owner of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company that owns Truth Social, and the value of the API access comes largely from Trump’s role as president.
What happened
However, Mayers likened Trump’s Truth Social posts—which have announced military strikes, ceasefires, tariffs, immigration policies, and major changes in his administration—to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s evening radio addresses known as “fireside chats,” Courthouse News reported .
Why it matters
His personal feed acts as an unvarnished public service, not a greedy profit grab, the DOJ argued.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.