Trump Media Truth API draws Warren, Schiff request for SEC probe

The Trump Media Truth API drew a request for a Securities and Exchange Commission review from Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff, who said the paid service could give subscribers quicker access to President Donald Trump’s posts on Truth Social. In a letter dated Tuesday to SEC Chair Paul Atkins, the Democratic senators asked the agency to analyze the service before its planned Aug. 1 start, including under rules covering insider trading and market manipulation.

Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent of Truth Social, trades on Nasdaq under the ticker DJT. The company announced Truth API on July 16 as a licensed data product offering real-time feeds from the platform’s highest-ranking accounts.

Warren, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, and Schiff, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, argued in their letter that the service could damage confidence in capital markets by allowing paying customers to receive posts with less delay than other users. They said Trump and subscribers able to pay for the feed could benefit financially.

The SEC declined to comment, according to CNBC. Trump Media did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the senators’ letter.

What is the Trump Media Truth API?

Truth API is a licensed data feed from Truth Social that Trump Media says provides real-time access to posts from prominent accounts on the platform. Such feeds can be used by financial firms, data vendors or trading systems to receive and process public information faster than by manually checking a website or app.

Trump Media’s interim chief executive, Kevin McGurn, said in the company’s July 16 announcement that the product offers a direct, licensed, real-time feed of what he described as the platform’s most market-moving posts. Reuters reported that Trump Media had discussed charging as much as $100,000 a month for the service.

The senators told Atkins that the agency should complete its legal review before the service begins. Their concern centers on speed: a direct programming feed can deliver posts to subscribers automatically, giving trading firms a potential timing advantage measured in milliseconds over investors who see posts through standard channels.

Warren and Schiff said high-frequency trading firms could be among the beneficiaries. Those firms use automated systems to identify information, submit orders and manage risk at very high speed, so even small differences in data access can matter when a post is relevant to securities, currencies, commodities or rates.

Trump’s Truth Social account is the most followed on the platform, according to CNBC. He frequently uses it for policy announcements and other news, including statements related to the Iran war, and has also promoted individual stocks on the account, CNBC reported.

Trump’s family is the largest stakeholder in Trump Media, according to CNBC. Before returning to the White House, Trump transferred more than 114 million Trump Media shares into a revocable trust overseen by his family, while still holding the economic interest indirectly.

Trump Media’s shares are down about 80% since the company began trading in late March 2024, according to CNBC. The company, also known as TMTG, operates Truth Social and has expanded into other areas, including cryptocurrency and fusion power.

This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.