Truth Social's Premium Feed Raises Questions About Fair Markets
Donald Trump's media company is selling investors a faster look at posts on Truth Social, a new offering that critics say could blur the line between public communication and market-moving information by making it available first to paying customers.
Trump Media & Technology Group launched Truth API, a subscription data service that offers a licensed, real-time feed of "market-moving Truths" from high-profile accounts. The service can cost as much as $100,000 a month and is aimed at traders and other institutional users for whom milliseconds can matter.
The controversy stems from the identity of the platform's dominant user. Trump's @realDonaldTrump account is by far Truth Social's largest, and he has used it to announce or signal policy decisions on tariffs, foreign affairs, and other matters that can move markets. Trump is the largest shareholder of the publicly traded parent company, meaning he could personally benefit from the service.
Whether the service crosses into insider information territory depends on how regulators view three elements. Insider information is typically nonpublic information, meaning facts and data not yet shared with regular shareholders or the general public. It is also material, meaning details important enough to affect a company's stock price once they become public. Finally, it can create an unfair advantage by giving some investors an exclusive edge over others.
Based on that framework, critics argue the risk is substantial if paying subscribers receive early access to the president's future public statements, particularly statements involving policy. Finance journalist and author James Surowiecki said he believes Truth API violates insider trading laws.
“Trump is disclosing information (in this case, information about some of his future public statements as president, including policy statements) that belongs to the US government in exchange for money. That violates his duty of trust and confidence to his employer (the govt), and is illegal,” Surowiecki said on X. “And anyone who pays for the feed is knowingly paying for misappropriated information, which is illegal as well.”
Trump Media disputes that characterization. A company spokeswoman said Truth API provides “the fastest way to ingest publicly available Truth Social data” and accused critics of inventing “a new theory of ‘insider trading’ based on publicly available information.”
The service has also drawn concern from market analysts. Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research, said in a post on X that Truth API could result in “more frequent market-moving posts” on the social media platform. “Trump will want them to be happy with their new service,” Bianco wrote on Saturday, referring to Truth API customers.
Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the service, calling it “an outrageous abuse of the President’s office for his personal benefit that undermines everyday investors and the integrity of our markets.”
Dean Baker, cofounder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said the service may work at the expense of everyday Americans.
“And, since reporters are too lazy to tell people, the money that insider traders pocket is money taken from the 401(k)s and IRAs of normal people who work for a living,” Baker said in an X post on Saturday.
For now, the legal question remains unresolved. Selling data feeds is common in both social media and financial markets. But Truth API is unusual because its most valuable feed may be that of a sitting president whose posts can foreshadow government action and whose family stands to benefit if the product succeeds.