Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, announced in July 2026 that it would launch a product called “Truth API” by August 1, selling paying subscribers faster, direct access to Truth Social posts from Trump and other high-profile accounts, posts that routinely move markets, for up to $100,000 a month. The service is marketed to high-frequency traders, hedge funds and other investment firms. By August 10, the company told investors that more than 10 customers had signed up, “primarily high-frequency trading firms,” NPR reported. Trump owns roughly 41 percent of TMTG through a trust; Raskin's letter says Trump continues to control that trust, while ABC News, citing regulatory filings, reports it is controlled by one of his sons.
On July 31, 2026, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, opened an inquiry, demanding records from TMTG's chief executive on the product's development, pricing, marketing and rollout, its subscribers, and any communications with government officials, by August 13. Raskin wrote that “this White House-Wall Street-Trump-Business feedback loop represents the depraved essence of insider trading,” and that “Nearly half of each fee would go directly into the pocket of Donald Trump.” Because Republicans control the House, this is a minority-party records request, not a subpoena-backed committee investigation.
Update (October 2, 2026): the product is now the subject of several lawsuits. On August 12, The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation sued Trump, aides Natalie Harp and Dan Scavino, and the White House in federal court in Manhattan, calling the service “extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional” and arguing it violates the First Amendment's guarantee of equal access to the president's statements. A Trump Media spokesperson told NPR that monetizing platform data is commonplace among tech companies. On September 21, 53 former federal prosecutors and agents filed a proposed amicus brief saying the scheme likely violates federal criminal laws, including the Securities Exchange Act. Watchdog groups American Oversight and Campaign for Accountability and the City and County of San Francisco have filed separate suits, Newsweek reported. Trump's lawyers argue the service is a private business decision by Trump Media, not government action, and that subscribers get at most a “50-millisecond advantage.” A hearing on a preliminary injunction was scheduled for October 7.
Correction (October 2, 2026): an earlier version of this entry said the product sells “early” access before the public sees posts; the company describes it as faster, real-time access, and the plaintiffs and defendants dispute how large the advantage is. It said Trump controls the trust holding his TMTG stake; sources differ on who controls it, and the entry now says so. It said Raskin wrote to TMTG's “interim” chief executive; the reporting reviewed says only its CEO. It said the product had been independently reported by Bloomberg; that could not be confirmed and the claim was replaced with the reporting reviewed.
Update (October 9, 2026): at the October 7 hearing in Manhattan, Justice Department lawyer Brantley Mayers began by comparing Trump's posts to Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chats, and U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken cut in: “Well, President Roosevelt didn't charge money for his fireside chats, did he?” Mayers argued that charging for the API was a “completely private commercial decision” by Trump's media company, not Trump's. Oetken said of Trump and the company, “There is an extremely close symbiotic relationship that is unusual,” and also noted, “There hasn't really been anything like this case.” He questioned the harm to journalists, saying the speed advantage is “a negligible delay to a human being.” He did not rule from the bench and said he would issue a written decision later, Courthouse News and Ars Technica reported.
Update (October 29, 2026): Reuters reported on October 28, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter, that Bloomberg and two trading firms, Susquehanna International Group and Jump Trading, have signed on to the service, which charges up to $100,000 a month, according to an Investing.com summary of the Reuters report carried by Yahoo Finance. The subscribers' names rest on Reuters' unnamed sources and have not been independently confirmed; no response from Trump Media or the three firms appeared in the coverage reviewed.