Bloomberg, trading firms pay for faster access to Trump’s Truth Social posts

Bloomberg and a pair of Wall Street trading houses will buy priority access to US President Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts for as much as $100,000 a month, according to people familiar with the deals, Reuters reports Thursday.

The firms are Susquehanna International Group and Jump Trading, both of which deploy computer algorithms to trade at a rapid clip. Paid customers of the tool, dubbed Truth API, get Trump’s posts about 50 milliseconds ahead of others, which may be enough of an edge when markets react.

Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, introduced the service in July and said it has entered into more than 10 customer agreements, Reuters has reported. Fees for financial firms have ranged from $60,000 to $100,000 per month.

In a statement to Reuters, Trump Media said: “Truth Social provides an industry-standard API product in high demand across all industries.” The report was also based on “misleading information,” Trump Media said.

This deal has also attracted legal and ethical questions because Trump’s family trust has a 41% stake in Trump Media and he is the sole recipient of the assets of this trust. A further two organisations have also sued over the possible use of Truth Social for posting official government announcements while paid-for access to the platform remains available.

The democratic senators are calling on the SEC to investigate the service for possible securities violations.