Wall Street traders are paying up to $100,000 a month for high-speed access to Donald Trump’s social media posts, according to the company’s latest update. The service, offered by Trump Media & Technology, provides first sight of the most influential accounts on the US President’s Truth Social platform, including Trump’s own.
The boss of Trump Media & Technology revealed that more than ten customers have already signed up to the service, which was launched at the start of August.
The Truth API service hands traders willing to pay $60,000 to $100,000 a month early access to posts, including major policy announcements by the US President. Trump Media chief executive Kevin McGurn said early customers are mostly high-frequency trading firms, which can cash in on information gained fractions of a second early through automated bets on subsequent moves in shares, bonds and currencies.
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The paid-for service has been criticised amid claims it is a vehicle for Trump and his allies to profit from his presidency. Kathleen Clark of Washington University School of Law told journalists last month that Trump is “selling expedited, privileged access to information about what he is doing as president.”
Clark added that this is “yet more brazen corruption, an improper exploitation of government power to enrich himself.” McGurn brushed aside these concerns, saying that providing licensed real-time public data through commercial APIs is a well-established business practice across the technology, financial information and media industries.
Trump Media posted a second-quarter loss of £176m in the three months to the end of June, more than ten times the £15m it lost in the same period last year. They are counting the cost of branching out into businesses outside their core media operations, such as crypto, online betting, finance and even nuclear energy.
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The firm said it would largely ditch many of the new ventures and refocus efforts on its social media mission and acting as a forum for users to post their views. McGurn said: “We made the disciplined choice to pivot in order to invest more time and resources in our most important initiatives. We will say no to things or change course as warranted.”
McGurn added: “This can grow into a meaningful, durable contributor, but it’s just one piece of a broader media technology strategy.”
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