Instant access to Trump’s thoughts now costs $100,000 a month

Truth Social announced last week that it was selling immediate access—or at least as close as possible—to President Donald Trump’s thoughts. For $100,000 a month, anyone will be able to receive almost instantaneous access to Trump’s Truth Social posts through the platform’s API, a very small but significant advantage over following them via the web. The offer is not, however, like many of his other commercial offerings attempting to capitalize on the presidency—this is no chintzy watch or repackaged phone painted gold. This is real business, and it’s uniquely structured to ensure that those willing to pay will have real, immediate access to the president’s statements.

There is already a booming business in selling near-immediate access to information—licensed data feeds are offered by other social media companies and media companies like Dow Jones and Bloomberg offer pricey wire services that allow extremely fast access to headlines and key data points. The market for all this is Wall Street firms who do high-speed trading—where access to key market-moving information even milliseconds faster than a competitor can allow profitable trades.

In fact, if anything, it was odd that Truth Social, which has struggled to make much of a profit or expand its active user base much beyond Trump and his immediate family, hadn’t already offered a live data feed.

But the way Truth Social introduced its new product was not subtle. According to its press release:

“Markets already move on Truth Social posts,” said Kevin McGurn, Interim Chief Executive Officer of TMTG. “Truth API delivers a direct, licensed, real-time feed of the platform’s most market-moving Truths while advancing our strategy to monetize proprietary assets through a high-margin, recurring revenue stream. As adoption grows, we expect Truth API to become a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company, creating lasting value for shareholders.”

Realistically, only one user’s posts on Truth Social genuinely move markets, and now, according to the company, Trump Media is going to use that fact to make money for shareholders. Notably, Trump is believed to own roughly 42 percent of the company.

The press release claimed that the company had already signed up customers and were expecting more to join before Aug. 1 when the program launches. The Financial Times reported this week that the cost will be $100,000 monthly.

That’s a striking cost—according to at least one source, it’s more than double what Twitter charges for API-access to its much, much larger galaxy of market-moving accounts, and Meta and LinkedIn negotiate their large-scale deals individually.

Ironically, what makes the Truth Social feed so lucrative is the thing that once seemed like one of the company’s weaknesses—Trump has an exclusivity deal with Trump Media + Technology Group.

Back in 2022, I wrote how Trump Media had signed a deal with Trump guaranteeing that he can post content elsewhere, provided he posts it on Truth Social six hours before he posts it anywhere else. The giant caveat on the deal was that Trump can post content related to political messaging, political fundraising, or get-out-the-vote efforts anywhere, at any point.

In 2022, when Trump was not in office and was mainly an out-of-work politician, testing political messages and trying to raise money, that was a hole in the business plan. Of course, Trump still is constantly testing political messages and trying to raise money for political groups, but the market-moving content—for instance, his April 9 Truth Social post that he would be suspending most tariffs which sent stocks soaring—has stayed on Truth Social.

But the move also has some on Wall Street unsettled. According to the Financial Times, at least one top executive at a hedge-fund pointed out that even if a firm doesn’t find the API feed that useful—and several apparently told FT they don’t, because it only really benefits firms that do high-speed trading—they still might have a fiduciary obligation. That’s the requirement that executives of a company do everything they can to make a profit, or be exposed to lawsuits from shareholders.

A second macro hedge fund executive called it “scandalous” but suggested that some hedge funds may have to subscribe to the service out of a fiduciary duty to clients, to avoid falling behind competitors.

“It’s a huge misuse of power,” said one crypto trader. “It’s a terrible look . . . not exactly presidential and impartial.”

In some ways, this is just an extension of the whole premise of Truth Social—a platform that gets all its relevance through Trump. The company’s risk disclosures on SEC filings have long plainly stated that they understand he is essentially the main reason the service has users. As a typical disclosure explains:

President Trump has a significant influence on TMTG’s business plan. TMTG believes President Trump’s reputation and relationships are a critical element to the success of TMTG’s business. TMTG’s future success will depend, to a significant extent, upon the continued presence and popularity of President Trump. If President Trump were to discontinue his relationship with TMTG due to death, disability, or any other reason, or limit his involvement with TMTG due to becoming a candidate for political office, TMTG would be significantly disadvantaged.