Bloomberg, Susquehanna International Group, and Jump Trading have purchased Truth Social's paid feed of Donald Trump's posts, according to Reuters reports. The feed, called Truth API, costs up to $100,000 per month and provides faster access to Trump's social media posts. The service gives subscribers a timing advantage of 50 milliseconds to read Trump's posts more quickly than human users can check the app manually. Susquehanna and Jump are high-frequency trading firms that run automated, algorithm-driven strategies, giving them an edge unavailable to everyday investors through early access to market-moving information.
Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT), which owns Truth Social, announced the Truth API in July. According to Reuters, a trust for Trump's family holds 41% of Trump Media, with Trump as its only beneficiary. The SEC filings list Donald Trump Jr. as trustee, holding sole voting and investment power. White House spokesman Davis Ingle stated that Trump and his family are not directly involved in portfolio investment decisions, though he did not address allegations that the president was improperly using his office.
The Truth API service has the potential to create swings in financial markets by providing Wall Street traders with an edge not available to everyday investors. High-frequency Wall Street traders employ software that ingests news headlines and government statements to search for market-moving information, with the ability to read, analyze and execute trades in thousandths of a second. In one example, oil futures sank after Trump announced a ceasefire in the Iran war on Truth Social in April. Trump Media told investors it had "signed more than 10 customer agreements" in August, primarily Wall Street trading firms paying between $60,000 and $100,000 monthly. Reuters stated it has no current plans to subscribe to the service.
Press groups Intercept Media and the Freedom of the Press Foundation brought a Truth API lawsuit against Trump in August. The plaintiffs want the White House barred from using Truth Social as its sole announcement channel while the feed operates. The lawsuit alleges that charging for access to government information could be unconstitutional and tilts the field toward Wall Street. The suit describes the paid data service as "profoundly corrupt" and argues it would violate the First Amendment rights of the public who don't have equal access to information and violate the Fifth Amendment by charging "unreasonable sums" for equal access to information guaranteed by law. Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff asked the SEC to investigate whether the service violated securities laws, describing it as "a shocking abuse" of office.
Trump Media shares have dropped more than 50% this year, as reported by Reuters. The company is currently valued near $1.8 billion, against about $8 billion at its March 2024 debut. Trump Media has lost about $1.76 billion since 2024, including non-cash charges. The pending lawsuit represents a direct challenge to whether speed on presidential messaging remains a product Wall Street can purchase. Trump Media spokesperson stated that "Congressional Democrats continue to mischaracterize Truth API either out of ideological opposition to free markets or a failure to grasp the distinction between public and nonpublic information."
