Trump Media & Technology Group CEO Kevin McGurn announced on Monday that the company has secured more than 10 customers for a high-speed data feed called Truth API. The service, which costs between $60,000 and $100,000 per month, provides automated access to public posts from President Trump and other high-profile Truth Social accounts. McGurn stated that the early clients are primarily high-frequency trading firms looking to view posts "milliseconds" before they reach the general public.
The announcement comes as Trump Media reported a 10-fold increase in quarterly losses to $238 million, largely attributed to the declining value of its cryptocurrency holdings. While second-quarter revenue rose 89% to $1.67 million, the company disclosed in an August 10 regulatory filing that advertising revenue on the Truth Social platform had declined. The company is currently diversifying its business through a merger with fusion energy firm TAE Technologies and the purchase of billions in cryptocurrencies.
Ethics experts and some lawmakers have raised concerns regarding the monetization of the president’s official statements. Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer, noted that milliseconds are critical for high-frequency traders and suggested that paying for faster access to government information could raise insider-trading risks. A Trump Media spokesperson responded that such criticisms represent a failure to distinguish between public and non-public information, noting that all posts remain available to the general public.
A person using the Truth API would notice a "fractional" advantage in receiving data directly to their computer systems, potentially allowing automated algorithms to execute trades before human users can read a post on their screens. This is particularly relevant given that past announcements, such as an April 2025 post regarding tariff pauses, have moved major indices like the S&P 500 by as much as 9% in a single day. Ordinary retail investors who do not pay for the API would continue to see posts at the standard speed, which critics argue puts them at a disadvantage in reacting to news that impacts their retirement accounts or personal portfolios.
The knock-on effects include potential legislative changes to federal disclosure rules. Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) has already introduced a bill to ban social media companies from selling advance access to accounts held by government employees. This could set a precedent for how "material information"—information that a reasonable investor would consider important—is distributed by public officials. What happens next depends on the legislative progress of Sen. Warner's bill and whether Trump Media successfully expands the API to news organizations and retail investors as planned. The company's stock, trading under the ticker DJT, fell nearly 6% following the investor call and has declined 49% over the past year.
In the legal and regulatory sphere, the company remains under scrutiny regarding whether the API violates the spirit of Regulation Fair Disclosure, a rule requiring public companies to distribute market-moving information broadly rather than selectively. While Trump Media contends the information is public the moment it is posted, legal experts suggest that the "milliseconds" of lead time sold to high-frequency firms may create legal risks under existing insider-trading laws. No specific court dates or votes on the proposed legislation have been scheduled yet.