On Saturday 1 August, Donald Trump’s Truth Social launched a subscription-based service that gives paying customers “real-time” access to posts from its largest accounts. The social media platform is charging up to $100,000 a month for what it calls “market-moving” insights.
Critics have called the move an act of “brazen corruption”. Trump, a sitting US president, stands to profit by giving traders early access to the Truth Social posts. Those same traders could then profit from acting on subsequent changes in bonds, interest rates and stock prices.
‘Market-moving Truths’
Trump holds majority ownership of Truth Social via Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. He also happens to be the platform’s most significant user, with nearly 13 million followers. The president frequently posts major policy decisions on the site, often with profound implications for global markets.
Truth Social is calling its new feature ‘Truth API’ (i.e., application programming interface). Interim CEO Kevin McGurn stated that it provides:
a direct, licensed, real-time feed of the platform’s most market-moving Truths.
Trump’s often posts news of his administration to the platform before making it public elsewhere. Particularly when his posts have related to the war on Iran or tariffs, they’ve cause massive fluctuations in markets around the world.
‘Outrageous abuse of the President’s office’
On Tuesday 28 July, Democratic senators Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren requested that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) examine the service. In a letter to the SEC boss Paul Atkins, the two wrote:
This appears to be an outrageous abuse of the President’s office for his personal benefit that undermines everyday investors and the integrity of our markets, while enriching Wall Street and other wealthy insiders.
The senators are far from the only figures to highlight Trump’s corruption. Financial journalist James Surowiecki voiced his belief that the feature violates insider trading laws. He explained:
Trump is disclosing information (in this case, information about some of his future public statements as president, including statements about policy) 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. And anyone who pays for the feed is knowingly paying for misappropriated information, which is illegal as well.
Professor Kathleen Clark, of the Washington School of Law, said:
He’s selling expedited, privileged access to information about what he is doing as president. It’s yet more brazen corruption, an improper exploitation of government power to enrich himself.
Dean Baker, one of the founders of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, stated that:
the money that insider traders pocket is money taken from the 401(k)s and IRAs of normal people who work for a living.
Trump’s profiteering presidency
Of course, this level of profiteering and (alleged) corruption is hardly new for Trump’s presidency. On 15 July, Forbes reported that Trump:
took in $2.4 billion last year, according to a Forbes analysis, which overlayed his financial disclosure report with bond filings, securities documents and court records to pinpoint a more specific number than the “at least $2.2 billion” widely reported in recent weeks. The $2.4 billion figure, a combination of operating revenue and proceeds from asset sales, dwarfs the estimated $760 million Trump received in 2024. It is also 6,000 times the current U.S. presidential salary of $400,000.
The business magazine also stated that Trump Media shares rose 5.5%, landing at $10.39 just before closing. Since Trump’s return to office in 2025, shares in Trump Media plummeted by over 70%, equating to a loss of around $6bn for its shareholders.
Featured image via Britannica
By Grace
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