Abstract:
San Francisco has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stop a paid service of the social media platform Truth Social: organizations can pay up to $100,000 per month to be the first to view President Trump's posts. San Francisco Attorney General David Chiu sued Trump Media Technology Group, the parent company of Real Social, on Monday. He argued that the project violated California’s Unfair Competition Law because the service gave well-funded traders priority access to government-related information, while ordinary investors did not enjoy the same treatment.
David Chiu said in an interview: "They deliberately created an insider trading market. This mechanism converts public trust into private profits and is the highest level of power corruption."
David Chiu said that hedge funds and cryptocurrency institutions can pay to benefit from this service, while ordinary Californians who hold 401(k) retirement accounts, 529 education savings accounts, public pensions and other stock assets will suffer losses.
The complaint filed by David Chiu in San Francisco Superior Court pointed out that many of Trump’s past posts on real social media have caused stock market fluctuations.
The complaint focuses on a post on April 9, 2025. Trump wrote: "Now is a great time to buy!!! DJT." A few hours later, Trump announced a 90-day suspension of trade taxes on most countries, and the stock market subsequently rose. On June 11, Trump posted that he would "strike hard at Iran tonight", and crude oil futures rose sharply in response.
David Chiu, a former California Democratic state legislator, pointed out that while real social networks are selling early access to posts, Trump is also constantly raising the threshold for the public to obtain information. As an example, he said the president recently banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from entering the White House.
"It's really shocking that this could happen." David Chiu said.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has always avoided direct confrontation with Trump, often deliberately not mentioning the president's name. However, David Chiu continues to launch legal actions against the Trump administration. Since January 2025, 19 lawsuits have been filed challenging birthright citizenship, sanctuary cities and other policies.
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