From 1 August, Wall Street firms will be able to buy high-speed access to the most influential posts on Donald Trump's Truth Social platform – including, potentially, those of the president himself – in a move that an investment expert has called 'unprecedented'.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the loss-making company behind the app, is launching a paid commercial data feed named Truth API. It promises to deliver posts from 'the highest-ranking' accounts to paying institutional clients in 'milliseconds', running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Trump Media will sell high-speed access to Truth Social posts from 1 August, potentially including the president's own market-moving statements.”
Until now, banks and traders had to monitor the app manually. But Trump's social media posts often cause sudden swings in global markets, especially when he writes about trade and tariffs. For firms, a delay of even seconds can be costly.
'Markets already move on Truth Social posts,' said Kevin McGurn, the interim boss of Trump Media, adding that the service will create a steady profit for the firm, which is currently loss-making. Trump Media did not say how much it would charge.
McGurn warned that some firms have been copying Truth Social's data for months without permission, and said Trump Media will soon block these methods, forcing firms to buy the official feed instead.
Since Trump's family remains the majority shareholder in the company, the president stands to profit directly from selling expedited access to his own public statements. The BBC has contacted Trump Media for comment on whether or not the president's posts will be included in the paid feed; the White House declined to comment.
While other social media networks already sell data, the move highlights the unique overlap between Trump's private businesses and his public role as president. Mark Spiegel, an investment expert from Stanphyl Capital Management, said it would be 'unprecedented' if the feature did include the president's posts. Companies that trade off the latest headlines would be 'at a disadvantage' if they did not pay for quick access, as they could miss out on posts that could move markets. 'But to put this in context, remember that Trump's posts constitute just a tiny fraction of what moves markets,' he added.