President Donald Trump has been sued in Manhattan federal court over a new Truth Social service that charges customers as much as $100,000 a month for faster access to posts from Trump and other prominent accounts, with the plaintiffs arguing that the arrangement allows his private company to profit from potentially market-moving government information.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by nonprofit news organization The Intercept Media and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, describes the service as an “extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional” scheme and asks the court to stop it.

The plaintiffs allege that Trump is effectively selling advance access to official government announcements through Truth Social, creating a system in which financial firms and other paying customers can receive information before the broader public.

“President Donald Trump is charging $100,000 per month for advance access to his official government announcements on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns,” the lawsuit says.

It alleges that Trump “stands to gain financially by giving ‘market-moving’ government information to those who are willing and able to pay his personal company.”

The legal challenge centers on Truth API, a business-to-business data service announced last month by Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social. The service is designed to provide customers with a machine-readable feed of posts from the platform’s highest-profile accounts, including Trump’s account, which has about 13 million followers.

Trump Media’s interim CEO Kevin McGurn provided further details about the service during the company’s first earnings call on Monday, saying customers would receive posts from top accounts faster than ordinary users. McGurn said the company had signed more than 10 customers since announcing the service, primarily high-frequency trading firms.

Subscription prices range from $60,000 to $100,000 a month, he said.

The company is also in discussions with major cloud-computing companies, large news organizations and developers of large language models, according to McGurn. Trump Media is also evaluating potential opportunities to license Truth Social data to prediction market companies.

“Truth API provides a machine-readable feed of publicly available Truth Social posts from the platform’s top accounts in milliseconds,” McGurn said.

Customers, he added, receive “published and publicly available posts fractionally faster.”

That distinction is central to the dispute. Truth Social posts are publicly available, but the plaintiffs argue that selling faster access to posts from the president creates a meaningful commercial advantage when those posts contain information capable of affecting financial markets.

The lawsuit specifically objects to the possibility that presidential announcements could be monetized through the president’s privately controlled social media company.

The plaintiffs argue that the arrangement violates the First and Fifth Amendments and constitutes an unlawful use of government information for private financial gain.

“There is no legitimate interest, let alone a significant one, in permitting President Trump to profit from selling government information,” the lawsuit says.

The legal challenge comes as Truth Social has increasingly become an important communications platform for Trump, who frequently uses social media to announce policies, respond to political developments and comment on financial and economic issues.

The potential market impact of Trump’s posts has also become an important consideration for traders. A presidential statement concerning tariffs, trade policy, sanctions, interest rates, companies, or other economic matters can potentially affect financial markets within seconds.

That creates a commercial incentive for firms capable of receiving and processing such information faster than other market participants.

High-frequency trading firms are particularly relevant because their strategies depend on extremely fast access to information and automated execution. Even a small reduction in the time between the publication of a market-sensitive post and a trading firm’s receipt of that information can potentially matter for certain trading strategies.

Trump Media’s decision to charge substantial monthly fees for that faster access therefore puts a new commercial dimension around Trump’s social media communications.

Although the company has characterized Truth API as a data service providing access to information that is already public, the lawsuit, not alleging that the underlying Truth Social posts are secret, focuses on the commercial value of receiving them before other users and whether Trump can personally benefit from that speed advantage when the posts involve official government information.

For Truth Media, Truth API represents a potentially significant expansion of Truth Social beyond conventional social networking. Its proposed customer base extends from financial firms to major technology companies, news organizations, and AI developers.

China’s fiercely competitive car market is increasingly being defined by electric vehicles, with domestic brands taking a larger share of consumer demand and even established global automakers struggling to maintain their positions.

Geely’s Xingyuan Takes the Top Spot

Industry data compiled by Autohome shows that Geely’s Xingyuan electric hatchback was the best-selling car model in China during the six months through July, highlighting how quickly affordable electric vehicles have moved into the mainstream.

Nearly 197,500 Xingyuan vehicles were sold during the period. Priced at just under 100,000 yuan ($14,820), the model combines one of the market’s fastest-growing powertrains with a price point aimed at mass-market consumers.

Geely has emerged as one of the strongest challengers to BYD, China’s dominant electric vehicle manufacturer. The Hangzhou-based automaker ranked second in overall vehicle sales in China in 2025 and has maintained a broader portfolio spanning gasoline-powered vehicles, mass-market EVs, and premium electric models sold under its Zeekr brand.

The success of the Xingyuan weighs heavily because it shows that China’s EV competition is no longer concentrated only in expensive, technology-heavy models. Affordable electric cars are increasingly becoming the products driving sales volumes.

Tesla’s Model Y Holds Second Place

Tesla remains one of the few foreign manufacturers capable of competing near the top of China’s increasingly electrified market. Its Model Y ranked second among the country’s most popular models, with more than 180,000 units sold during the period.

The Model Y is considerably more expensive than Geely’s Xingyuan, with prices ranging from 263,500 yuan to 313,500 yuan. Yet it outsold models from fast-growing Chinese technology and EV companies, including Li Auto’s i6 SUV and Xiaomi’s SU7 sedan.

Tesla’s performance also demonstrates that brand recognition and product positioning remain important even as Chinese automakers expand their technological and pricing advantages.

BYD Places Three Models in the Top 10

The EV company’s position is more complicated.

Three BYD models appeared among China’s 10 best-selling vehicles during the period, giving the company the strongest representation of any automaker. However, its highest-ranked model, the Yuan UP SUV, placed only fifth with nearly 97,700 units sold.

The Ti 7, sold under BYD’s off-road brand, ranked sixth, while the Sealion 06 SUV also made the top 10.

The rankings come as BYD faces signs of weaker demand. The company reported that passenger vehicle sales fell by more than 10% in the first half of the year, underscoring the intensity of competition in a market where manufacturers are competing aggressively on price, technology and model variety.

The figures also show that being China’s largest EV manufacturer does not guarantee that individual models will dominate the country’s sales rankings. Consumer demand is becoming increasingly fragmented across a growing number of domestic brands.

Volkswagen is the Sole Traditional Foreign Brand

Foreign automakers, meanwhile, are finding it increasingly difficult to break into the top tier.

Volkswagen was the only traditional foreign automaker to appear in the top 10. Its gasoline-powered Lavida ranked ninth, squeezed between Leapmotor’s A10 electric SUV and Geely’s gasoline-powered Boyue L SUV.

The result highlights the widening gap between China’s rapidly expanding domestic EV industry and foreign automakers that still rely heavily on conventional gasoline-powered models.

The shift is visible in China’s broader sales data.

New energy vehicles, a category that includes battery-electric and hybrid vehicles, accounted for 65.1% of new passenger-car sales in July, up sharply from 54% a year earlier, according to data released by the China Passenger Car Association.

That means electric and hybrid vehicles now account for nearly two-thirds of China’s new passenger-car market, giving manufacturers that can compete effectively in the segment a substantial advantage.

The transition is occurring even as the overall passenger-car market contracts. Passenger-car sales fell 20.3% in the year through July, while new-energy vehicle sales declined 12.5% over the same period.

That combination is important. EV penetration is rising not simply because the overall market is expanding, but because consumers are increasingly choosing new-energy vehicles within a weaker market.

The competitive pressure is consequently moving beyond the traditional question of whether EVs can replace gasoline-powered cars. Chinese manufacturers are now competing against one another for market share in a segment that has become the center of the country’s automobile industry.

Price is one of the most powerful weapons. Models such as Geely’s Xingyuan show how Chinese automakers are bringing EVs to a much broader consumer base, while companies such as BYD, Xiaomi, Li Auto and Leapmotor continue to expand their model ranges.

Technology is another battleground. Chinese automakers have been incorporating advanced driver-assistance systems, connected-car functions and software features into vehicles across different price categories. That has made competition less dependent on traditional advantages such as engine technology and manufacturing scale.

For foreign automakers, the challenge is therefore becoming structural. Volkswagen’s appearance in the top 10 provides evidence that established brands can still generate significant demand, but the limited representation of traditional foreign manufacturers shows how difficult it has become to compete at scale without a strong electric-vehicle portfolio.

China is also becoming an increasingly important test of the global automotive industry’s future. The country’s consumers are adopting electric and hybrid vehicles at a faster pace, while domestic manufacturers are using their home market to develop products, reduce costs and build scale.

The leading brands emerging from this competition are not necessarily those with the largest overall portfolios. They are the companies able to combine competitive pricing, rapid product development, software capabilities and manufacturing scale.

Geely’s Xingyuan taking the top spot, Tesla retaining second place, and BYD placing three models in the top 10 show that the market is being reshaped. The bigger story is that the center of gravity is moving decisively toward new-energy vehicles, while the space available to automakers that fail to keep pace with that transition is becoming increasingly narrow.