US judge prepares ruling on sale of API access to Trump's posts — Ars Technica
A US federal judge is preparing a written ruling in a case concerning a possible temporary ban on the sale of expensive API access to President Donald Trump's posts on Truth Social. Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns the social network, offers instant access to publications at a price of up to $100,000 per month. Ars Technica reports on the hearing.
Arguments of the parties
The plaintiffs, which include news organizations, argue that paid access creates unequal conditions for obtaining government information that the president publishes on the social network. In their view, this practice violates the First Amendment to the US Constitution, the Presidential Records Act, and the Fifth Amendment.
US Department of Justice representative Brantley Mayers told the court that the decision to charge for API access was a private commercial decision by Trump Media & Technology Group and that Trump was not involved. Mayers also compared the president's posts to Franklin Roosevelt's radio addresses. Judge Paul Oetken responded that Roosevelt did not charge money for his broadcasts.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
The value of access
The judge questioned whether a delay in access to posts, potentially amounting to a fraction of a second, could substantially harm press freedom. At the same time, the plaintiffs' representatives stressed that the value of the API lies not only in speed: the service provides a machine-readable feed and an archive of Trump's posts, including those he later deletes.
Attorney Nikhel Sus, representing Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said that major media groups are already negotiating to purchase access. The Intercept attorney David Schulz argued that the paid service gives a direct advantage to newsrooms that can afford it. Oetken did not make a decision during the hearing and said he would issue it in writing later.
