The Trump family’s media company will sell banks and trading companies high-speed access to the US president’s social media posts, meaning that the announcements that have shaken global markets will reach paying algorithms milliseconds before they reach anyone else.
The Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) launched a paid, licensed data feed on Thursday, promising banks and brokerage houses “faster” access to posts from influential accounts on Truth Social, its social media platform.
The product, called Truth API, will deliver posts from the platform’s ten powerful accounts in “milliseconds”, much faster than a regular notification, according to a company spokesperson.
Why should a business owner in Birmingham care about Wall Street data feeds? Because Trump, who has 12.9 million followers on Truth Social, regularly uses the platform to announce government policy, including issues about tariffs and trade restrictions.
Those positions moved the market before officials finished writing the accompanying documents. The tariff announcements shook currency markets and changed the pound, and the resulting tariffs are still weighing on British traders eighteen months into Trump’s second administration.
Essentially, a UK company that is hedging its dollar exposure, adjusting input rates or looking at its pension plan will now react to issues where the payment machines are already trading.
TMTG says the feed is designed for organizations “highly affected by information latency costs”, such as algorithmic trading companies. Until now, “firms that prioritize the tracking of influential Truth posts rely on manual monitoring”, it added.
The latest attempt to squeeze revenue from the platform, follows plans to integrate artificial intelligence into Truth Social and try streaming and cryptocurrency.
Family connections are what raised eyebrows. The Trump family is TMTG’s largest shareholder: the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust owns about 114.75 million shares, about 41 percent of the company’s outstanding stock, according to official filings. Some of the most followed accounts on Truth Social are the president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump.
Ethics watchdogs were quick to criticize the family business’s mingling with presidential influence and access to information.
Daniel Lobo-Lewis, founder of the Political Integrity Project, a non-political watchdog that tracks American political money, said: “It’s inspiring to him. [Trump] getting public paywall information to enrich themselves.”
Kathleen Clark, a professor at the Washington University School of Law who specializes in government conflict-of-interest laws, continued: “He’s selling instant access, a right to information about what he’s doing as president.
Whether it’s legal is a different question, and the answer seems to be yes. Robert Frenchman, a partner at the law firm Dynamis in New York who has defended clients in federal trading investigations, said platforms are allowed to give clients early access even if that hurts other market participants.
“Of course it doesn’t seem right, but yes, a technology platform can consolidate its information distribution without violating government security laws,” he said.
The White House referred Fund Manager Today, its sister publication Business Matters, to TMTG when asked for comment. TMTG has been contacted for comment.
For British SMEs, the lesson is less about Washington ethics and more about market structure. The gap between the announcement and your awareness of it now has a price tag, and someone is paying for it.
