Trump Media sells $100,000 Truth Social data access, drawing scrutiny

Trump Media & Technology Group is aiming to energize growth by selling faster access to President Trump's Truth Social posts for up to $100,000 a month.

CEO Kevin McGurn told investors on Monday that the company has signed up "more than 10" customers for its Truth API, or Application Programming Interface, data feed, which he said was mostly from high-frequency securities trading firms seeking an edge by potentially seeing the president's posts milliseconds before they reach the broader Truth Social audience.

Contracts for the new service generally range from $60,000 to $100,000 a month, McGurn said. The Truth API includes access to the social media network's top accounts, not just Mr. Trump's, the company has said.

Rolling access to the Truth API feed could give traders and investors a small but meaningful head start in making investment calls based on Mr. Trump's posts, such as announcements on tariffs and foreign policy. That could raise ethical concerns, financial experts said.

McGurn also said Trump Media is in "active conversations" with large cloud computing firms, artificial intelligence companies and news organizations about signing up for Truth API. Eventually, the company also plans to market the data feed to ordinary investors, he said.

"We're encouraged by the early demand for Truth API, and we look forward to rolling out the product to other sectors, including retail investors," McGurn said in a call with Wall Street analysts to discuss the company's most recent financial results.

The Truth API service has sparked controversy, with media organizations filing a lawsuit against Mr. Trump on Wednesday. The Intercept and the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation. The suit alleges that selling Truth API subscriptions is "extraordinary, corrupt and unconstitutional."

"There is no legitimate interest, let alone a significant one, in permitting President Trump to profit from selling government information," the groups' lawsuit claims.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, alleges Truth API violates the First and Fifth Amendments.

"Trump is trying to enrich himself by privatizing government information that he has no right to sell," Ben Muessig, editor-in-chief of The Intercept, claimed in an Intercept article about the lawsuit. "We won't let it stand."

In a response to the lawsuit, Trump Media said that Mr. Trump's statements are widely available. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the litigation.

"Information from President Trump is disseminated by countless platforms and news outlets, many of which offer subscription APIs," a spokesman for Trump Media told CBS News. "One of those channels is Truth Social, which was founded as an uncancellable haven for free speech after the President was unjustly deplatformed. Now, left-wing activists are trying to wrongfully weaponize the courts to censor him again and harm our shareholders."

Trump Media & Technology Group, which has never turned a profit since its founding in 2021, has struggled to settle on a business strategy capable of delivering reliable revenue growth.