For sale: early access to Trump’s Truth Social posts
Trump Media & Technology Group plans to sell financial firms rapid access to selected Truth Social posts, potentially including President Donald Trump’s, before ordinary users see them. The proposal matters because Trump often announces policy on the platform and such posts can swiftly affect markets, raising concerns that paying institutions could gain an advantage over other investors.
The service, called Truth API or Truth PSI in reports, would provide machine-readable posts from the platform’s most influential accounts within milliseconds and was expected to launch in August. The company said it had already secured customers and would monetise its data; reports said prospective clients were quoted fees of up to $100,000 a month. Trump’s trust holds about 41% of the company, while ethics experts said the arrangement creates potential conflicts even though federal conflict-of-interest rules do not generally apply to the president.
In short
- Truth Social plans paid, faster access to influential posts.
- Trump’s posts can move global financial markets.
- Critics cite fairness and conflict-of-interest concerns.
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The case for
Selling proprietary data feeds to institutional clients is standard practice across the financial industry, with platforms from Reuters to Bloomberg operating such services routinely. Truth Social, as a private company, has every right to commercialise its data, and such feeds do not restrict ordinary users from seeing posts—they simply provide value-added services to institutional clients. The president's shareholding creates no distinct conflict from any other investor's interest in company profitability.
The case against
The arrangement creates a serious conflict of interest because the president announces policy on this platform that moves markets, and then profits when the company he substantially owns sells early access to those announcements to wealthy investors. This gives financially privileged institutions an unfair advantage over ordinary investors, undermining market fairness. The president's ability to benefit personally from his own announcements raises profound ethical concerns about the separation between official office and private financial interest.
Explained simply
Truth Social is a social media platform owned by Trump Media & Technology Group, a company linked to Donald Trump. Trump and other prominent users post there, and their messages can attract attention from investors when they discuss government policy or other matters affecting businesses.
Financial firms use rapid data feeds to track information that may move share prices. Giving some firms posts in a machine-readable form before they appear to ordinary users could affect how quickly they respond. The proposal also draws attention to Trump’s financial interest in the company and questions about how that interest relates to his role as president.
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