Trump Media & Technology Group has announced plans to implement a new service offering high-speed, priority access to posts on Truth Social, including those from the president. The initiative, revealed on Thursday, aims to provide institutional investors and Wall Street trading firms with early access to content from top-ranked accounts, potentially allowing them to capitalize on market-moving information before the general public.
The service, dubbed Truth PSI, is expected to launch next month, with the company noting that it has already secured customers. Kevin McGurn, the company's new media executive, described the move as part of a broader strategy to monetize proprietary assets and projected it would become a meaningful revenue stream. When asked, the company did not clarify whether posts made by the president would be excluded from this expedited service.
Critics, including Kathleen Clark, an expert in government conflict-of-interest rules at Washington University School of Law, have condemned the plan as an improper exploitation of government power. Clark argued that selling privileged, high-speed access to a president’s policy decisions and musings constitutes brazen corruption. While federal conflict-of-interest laws generally prohibit officials from profiting from their office through private company holdings, the president and vice-president are technically excluded from these specific provisions. Despite this, historical precedent has seen previous presidents place assets in blind trusts or divest holdings to avoid such appearances of impropriety, a practice Trump has not followed.
The platform has become a primary venue for major presidential announcements, ranging from tariffs and immigration crackdowns to commentary on the Iran war. These posts often trigger immediate reactions in financial markets, particularly regarding oil prices, inflation, and Federal Reserve interest rate policy. With the president commanding 12.9 million followers, followed by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric, the potential for market impact is significant.
Trump Media & Technology has been aggressively seeking to boost its stock price, which has fallen more than 70% since the president took office last year, resulting in an estimated $6 billion loss in shareholder wealth. The company has recently explored diversification into sectors such as cryptocurrency, financial services, and nuclear fusion. Shares of the company rose 0.6% to $9.63 on Thursday, a notable decline from the $40 closing price recorded prior to the president's inauguration.
