WASHINGTON: Donald Trump’s media company said Thursday (Jul 16) it planned to sell faster access to market-moving social media posts by the US president.
The move would effectively monetise Trump’s Truth Social posts, with which he has used to make world headlines on everything from the Iran war to the economy.
Trump Media said the Truth API service would provide “licensed, real-time access to posts from the highest-ranking Truth Social accounts”.
The service, starting Aug 1, could benefit traders and financial news organisations that rely on split-second margins for breaking news.
“Markets already move on Truth Social posts,” said Kevin McGurn, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Trump Media and Technology Group.
The firm said it would help “close the gap” for firms that have “relied on manual monitoring” to monitor Truth Social posts.
Trump set up Truth Social after being banned from Twitter – now called X – following the US Capitol attack by supporters trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
It is now his go-to platform for making major announcements – but selling high-speed access raises fresh questions about Trump monetising the presidency.
Trump earned at least US$1.2 billion from his family’s cryptocurrency activities last year, according to filings released in June.
An API – short for Application Programming Interface – is a service that allows two different computer programs to interact with one another, potentially opening the door for faster automated monitoring of Trump’s posts.
Other social media platforms, like X, provide similar access to their platforms.
