NEW YORK (AP) — The media company owned by President Donald Trump is preparing to sell premium, high-speed access to posts on Truth Social — and that could include the president’s own messages touching on national security and financial markets.
The plan, revealed Thursday, would give Wall Street trading firms and other large institutions the ability to receive Truth Social content in milliseconds, allowing them to act quickly on any market-moving information. The service is being called Truth PSI, and while similar paid access programs exist at other social media platforms, this one comes with a significant twist: the platform’s most prominent user is the sitting president, who also happens to be the largest shareholder of the publicly traded company behind it — meaning he would personally profit from the arrangement.
Kathleen Clark, a government conflicts of interest expert at Washington University School of Law, did not mince words about the plan. “He’s selling expedited, privileged access to information about what he is doing as president,” she said. “It’s yet more brazen corruption, an improper exploitation of government power to enrich himself.”
The Trump family’s company declined to offer any comment on the matter. Trump Media & Technology, the publicly traded parent company of Truth Social, did not respond to questions sent by email, including whether the president’s posts would be left out of the new service.
A press release issued by the company suggested Trump would in fact be included, noting that the service would give paying customers early access to posts from “the highest-ranking Truth Social accounts.” The president currently has 12.9 million followers on the platform. The release did not specify what customers would be charged for the service.
Over recent months, Trump has used Truth Social to share major announcements and commentary on topics including the conflict with Iran, tariffs, and immigration enforcement actions in American cities. His posts about Iran have drawn particular attention from investors, who are concerned that rising oil prices could fuel inflation and potentially push the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
The timing of the announcement is notable: shares of Trump Media & Technology have dropped 70% since the president returned to the White House earlier this year.
Trump Media has indicated it hopes to launch the new service as soon as next month and said it has already secured customers ahead of the rollout.
