President Donald Trump’s media venture is preparing to sell premium, ultra-fast access to Truth Social posts — a service that could include his own market-moving updates on national security, tariffs and other matters with direct consequences for investors.
The new product, announced Thursday and branded as Truth PSI, is designed to give Wall Street trading firms and institutional clients access to posts from Truth Social accounts in milliseconds. That speed could allow subscribers to react before the wider public to developments affecting stocks, bonds and interest rates. While similar paid data feeds exist on other social platforms, Truth Social’s version is unusual because its most influential user is the president, who is also the largest shareholder in the platform’s publicly traded parent company.
“He’s selling expedited, privileged access to information about what he is doing as president,” said Kathleen Clark, a Washington University School of Law professor who specializes in government ethics and conflict-of-interest rules. “It’s yet more brazen corruption, an improper exploitation of government power to enrich himself.”
The Trump family business declined to address whether the product amounts to monetizing the presidency. Trump Media & Technology, the publicly traded parent company of Truth Social, also did not respond to emailed questions, including whether Trump’s own posts would be excluded from the paid service.
According to the company’s press release, Truth PSI would give customers early access to posts from “the highest-ranking Truth Social accounts.” Trump is by far the platform’s dominant figure, with 12.9 million followers. His eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., ranks next, followed closely by Eric Trump.
The announcement did not disclose pricing for the service.
In recent months, Trump has used Truth Social to float or announce consequential decisions on issues including the Iran conflict, tariffs and expanded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in American cities. His posts about Iran have been especially sensitive for financial markets, as investors remain concerned that rising oil prices could keep inflation elevated and potentially push the Federal Reserve toward higher interest rates.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology have fallen 70% since Trump took office last year, wiping out about $6 billion in shareholder value. Those losses, combined with billions more tied to new Trump family cryptocurrency ventures, have intensified scrutiny after Trump’s annual financial disclosure showed he generated more than $1 billion in revenue last year from the same companies and offerings.
Conflict of interest laws bar U.S. government officials from profiting off their position but the president is excluded from those provisions.
Despite that, all presidents since the law was passed decades ago have acted as if it applied — selling individual stocks, dumping business holdings or putting their financial assets in a blind trust so they wouldn’t know what was being bought and sold on their behalf while they wielded power — but Trump has refused.
Trump Media has been trying to lift its stock price recently by branching into various businesses, including crypto, financial services and even nuclear fusion. It recently replaced its longtime CEO, former Congressman Devin Nunes, with a seasoned media executive, Kevin McGurn.
In the release, McGurn described the Truth PSI move as part of a “strategy to monetize proprietary assets.” He added that he expected it to become a “meaningful, ongoing source of revenue.”
Trump Media said that it plans to start the service next month and that it has already signed up customers.
The stock rose 0.6% to $9.63 on Thursday. Before Trump took office last year, it closed at $40.
