Truth Social Api Trump Media Traders Controversy

More than 10 customers, primarily high-frequency trading firms, have signed agreements with US President Donald Trump’s media company to receive its fastest available feed of posts from Truth Social, turning his social media activity into a potentially lucrative financial-data business.

The customers are paying between $60,000 and $100,000 a month for Truth API to Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), according to the company’s interim chief executive Kevin McGurn, who disclosed details of the service during an earnings call.

“Today, we’re in the early innings…We’ve signed more than 10 customer agreements to date, primarily high-frequency trading firms at rates generally in the range of $60,000 to $100,000 a month,” McGurn said.

At the upper end of that range, 10 customers alone could potentially generate around $12 million in annualised revenue. That is significant for a company which reported revenue of just $1.7 million in the June quarter, and a loss of $238 million between April and June.

TMTG is now looking well beyond trading firms. McGurn said it was in discussions with hyperscalers, large news organisations, and developers of large language models, while also exploring licensing its data to prediction markets. A retail-trading version of the product is also being worked on.

An application programming interface, or API, essentially allows one computer system to automatically obtain information from another. Truth API packages publicly available posts from some of Truth Social’s most influential accounts into a structured, machine-readable stream that computers can consume almost instantly. All this results in those with access to the API receiving posts on Truth Social milliseconds before regular users.

TMTG launched the product on August 1 after announcing it in July as its first data-licensing business. The feed covers posts from influential Truth Social accounts, provides round-the-clock access, and includes a historical archive going back to 2022.

Instead of a trader manually refreshing Trump’s Truth Social profile, or waiting for a phone notification, an algorithm can ingest a post through the API within milliseconds, interpret what it means, and potentially place trades automatically.

Although that difference may sound negligible to an ordinary user, in high-frequency trading, where computers routinely compete to execute transactions fractions of a second ahead of rivals, it could have commercial value.

Of course, Trump himself would be responsible for creating much of that value. His posts are particularly important because he has increasingly used Truth Social not merely for political commentary but to make or signal decisions on tariffs, foreign policy, and individual companies.

TMTG itself has made this market impact central to its pitch. When announcing the service, McGurn said “markets already move on Truth Social posts”, describing the API as a potentially high-margin, recurring source of revenue.

At the heart of the controversy is a key question on whether investors who can afford tens of thousands of dollars each month receive faster access to statements made by the sitting US President that could move financial markets, even if it is just a matter of milliseconds.

The posts themselves are public. TMTG has stressed this distinction, with McGurn saying the company’s customers only receive “published and publicly available posts fractionally faster”. Commercially licensing real-time public data, it argues, is commonplace across technology, media, and financial-information businesses.

And selling faster data feeds may not in itself be unusual or necessarily illegal. Lawyers cited by Reuters have pointed out that technology platforms can offer different speeds of access to public information even if that leaves some market participants at a disadvantage.

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The unusual element is the identity of Truth Social’s most consequential user.

Trump retains an economic interest in TMTG through a trust holding roughly between 41-53% of the company, while at the same time using its platform to communicate presidential decisions that can influence stocks, currencies, commodities and other assets.

Democratic Senators including Elizabeth Warren have asked the US Securities and Exchange Commission to examine whether the arrangement violates securities laws or undermines market integrity, arguing that it could disadvantage ordinary investors.

TMTG has rejected such criticism. It has argued that critics are conflating public and non-public information, and has questioned how access to already-published posts could constitute insider trading.

Soumyarendra Barik is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express, specializing in the complex and evolving intersection of technology, policy, and society. With over five years of newsroom experience, he is a key voice in documenting how digital transformations impact the daily lives of Indian citizens. Expertise & Focus Areas Barik’s reporting delves into the regulatory and human aspects of the tech world. His core areas of focus include: The Gig Economy: He extensively covers the rights and working conditions of gig workers in India. Tech Policy & Regulation: Analysis of policy interventions that impact Big Tech companies and the broader digital ecosystem. Digital Rights: Reporting on data privacy, internet freedom, and India's prevalent digital divide. Authoritativeness & On-Ground Reporting: Barik is known for his immersive and data-driven approach to journalism. A notable example of his commitment to authentic storytelling involves him tailing a food delivery worker for over 12 hours. This investigative piece quantified the meager earnings and physical toll involved in the profession, providing a verified, ground-level perspective often missing in tech reporting. Personal Interests Outside of the newsroom, Soumyarendra is a self-confessed nerd about horology (watches), follows Formula 1 racing closely, and is an avid football fan. Find all stories by Soumyarendra Barik here. ... Read More