Trump's Truth Social to charge $100,000 monthly for early access to president's posts

Donald Trump's business ventures continue to find new avenues for monetization, with his social media platform Truth Social now offering a premium service for early access to the former president's posts. For a hefty $100,000 per month, subscribers will receive "Truth API," a service providing advanced access to publications from high-profile users, including Trump himself. This initiative, effective August 1, is seen by some as a lucrative way to capitalize on Trump's public statements, which often include policy announcements with market implications.

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If the president's posts on Truth Social are being monetized and certain people are getting privileged access to them, it's a misappropriation of information.

The move has ignited controversy, with critics pointing to a significant conflict of interest. The service could potentially facilitate insider trading, benefiting a company where Trump is the primary shareholder through a trust controlled by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. This arrangement raises concerns about privileged information being funneled to paying investors.

Legal experts are weighing in on the potential ramifications. Renée Jones, a Boston College professor and former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official, told NPR that the service appears to violate laws against insider trading, which are designed to prevent unfair advantages from non-public information. "If the president's posts on Truth Social are being monetized and certain people are getting privileged access to them, it's a misappropriation of information," Jones stated. She added that providing such early access breaches Trump's duty of loyalty and trust.

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And by facilitating his posts to certain people in advance, he is also breaching his duty of loyalty and trust.

Jones further elaborated that transmitting non-public information to Trump Media for rapid dissemination to wealthy institutional investors moves toward normalizing the use of insider information. This, she warned, undermines the integrity of U.S. markets and erodes confidence. The journalist Margaret Haberman, author of "Regime Change," noted that money appears to be Trump's primary motivator, serving as the ultimate metric for success or failure in his endeavors.

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Transmitting non-public information to Trump Media for rapid dissemination to wealthy institutional investors moves toward normalizing the use of insider information, which undermines the integrity of U.S. markets and erodes confidence.