© Mason Hassoun via Unsplash
Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the Trump family’s media company, has been selling expensive subscriptions to posts by Donald Trump and other influential Americans on Truth Social since Saturday. The “Truth API” subscriptions give users access to Trump’s posts a few seconds earlier.
According to TMTG, the subscriptions are particularly appealing to stock traders, as posts from the U.S. president and others “can move markets.” The most expensive subscription comes with a hefty price tag: $100,000 per month.
When the subscription plan was announced a few weeks ago, it drew fierce criticism, as the early access could lead to insider trading and corruption. Democratic senators called on the SEC, the stock market watchdog, to launch an investigation, but it remains unclear whether that will actually happen.
“This appears to be a scandalous abuse of the presidency for personal gain, which undermines ordinary investors and the integrity of our markets, while making Wall Street and other wealthy insiders even richer,” the senators wrote in an open letter.
The first phase involves twelve accounts, including Donald Trump’s own profile, that of the White House, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.
TMTG, in which the Trump family is the majority shareholder, also operates Truth Social (where Trump now has about 13 million followers) and the streaming service Truth+. There, interested users can subscribe to the “Patriot Package” for $9.99 per month, which provides access to “non-woke news networks.”
© Mason Hassoun via Unsplash