House Probe Targets Trump Media Over $100,000 Data Feed Selling Early Truth Social Access

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin has launched an official investigation into Trump Media & Technology Group following the company’s release of a $100,000-per-month data feed that delivers social media posts to Wall Street firms milliseconds before they reach the general public.

The paid service, named Truth API, provides direct machine-readable access to high-profile accounts on Truth Social, including Donald Trump‘s personal profile of 13 million followers. Five Wall Street firms have already purchased subscriptions, generating $500,000 in monthly revenue, or $6 million annually. Donald Trump holds roughly 41% of the company’s shares, directly tying his personal finances to the commercial product.

The congressional inquiry, launched on July 31st, targets the operational and ethical structure of the access model. In an official letter to interim CEO Kevin McGurn, Rep. Raskin demanded records of the subscribing Wall Street firms and the specific accounts included in the priority stream. Raskin accused Trump of failing “to ‘take Care’ that laws are enforced and to advance the public interest,’ adding that “President Trump is, once again, using it to enrich in spectacular fashion himself, his family, and corporate cronies, while also destroying the integrity of financial markets in the process.’ Raskin’s office declined a request for further comment.

In high-frequency and algorithmic trading, quantitative desks rely on automated natural language processing (NLP) systems to instantly convert raw text into buy or sell orders. Seconds or milliseconds of lead time allow automated systems to execute trades ahead of broader market repricing—a practice closely linked to latency arbitrage. While Truth Social’s terms of service explicitly prohibit users from systematically compiling or scraping platform data, Truth API sells institutional subscribers a licensed bypass to those restrictions.

The product deployment comes amid severe operational deficits at Trump Media & Technology Group. Quarterly financial reports for Q1 2026 indicate the firm sustained a net loss of roughly $405 million while generating less than $900,000 in revenue. Company executives pitched the feed directly to quantitative traders. “Markets already move on Truth Social posts,’ McGurn said in a press release. “Truth API delivers a direct, licensed, real-time feed of the platform’s most market-moving Truths.’

Legal scholars and former financial regulators argue that monetizing presidential communications poses fundamental regulatory hazards. Renée Jones, a Boston College law professor and former senior official at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), noted that “Material nonpublic information belongs to the U.S. government or to the American people, not to Truth Social or President Trump.’ Former White House chief ethics counsel Richard Painter warned that if executive communications regarding tariffs, foreign policy, or regulatory decisions are routed to paying clients before reaching the public, the enterprise could face liability as an illegal tipper under federal securities laws.

Academic economists also warn of secondary market impacts. Gian Luca Clementi, an economics professor at NYU Stern School of Business, characterized the service as direct monetization of presidential authority. “This is insider trading by definition,’ Clementi said, stating that President Trump is going to “monetize the role of the office of the president of the United States.’ Clementi warned that systemic informational advantages risk driving participants away from trading: “If market participants know that there are certain individuals in the market that are privy to information regularly because of their connections, and we are not, that is going to make us refrain from trading because we are afraid that every time we trade on the other side of the trade, there is someone that knows more about the stock than us.’

TMTG spokesperson Shannon Devine pushed back against claims of wrongdoing, telling Quartz that Truth API “offers customers the fastest way to ingest publicly available Truth Social data’ and accusing critics of inventing “a new theory of ‘insider trading’ based on publicly available information.’ Trump Media & Technology Group did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment.

Truth API expands an established pattern of monetization linked to Trump’s public role. According to his 927-page annual financial disclosure report, Trump earned over $2 billion in personal income in 2025, nearly quadrupling his 2024 total. The earnings included over $1 billion from cryptocurrency ventures, featuring $635 million in royalties from his $TRUMP meme coin and more than $500 million from World Liberty Financial, a crypto entity run by his sons. Trump signed legislation supporting stablecoins months after World Liberty launched its own stablecoin. Disclosures further showed millions earned from Trump-branded Bibles, sneakers, and watches, alongside a reported $28 million documentary deal secured by Melania Trump with Jeff Bezos.