Trump accused of ‘abusing power’ by selling VIP access to Truth Social posts

Trump accused of ‘abusing power’ by selling VIP access to Truth Social posts

James Titcomb

Sun, August 2, 2026 at 6:00 PM GMT+3 3 min read

• DJT +1.52%

Donald Trump's social media company has started selling VIP access to his posts despite claims the service amounts to a "shocking abuse" of power.

Truth Social, the Twitter-like service where the president regularly posts updates, has started offering a high-speed feed to banks and high-frequency trading firms.

The service, which charges up to $100,000 (£74,000) a month, is designed to let paying customers trade on the data instantly.

Mr Trump owns a 41pc stake in Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind Truth Social.

The plans to sell fast-lane access to his posts, first disclosed earlier in the summer, have provoked a backlash from Democrats who say Mr Trump is abusing his position to make money.

While the service will officially give access to a selection of the highest-ranking Truth Social accounts, Mr Trump is by far the most popular.

He has 12.9 million followers on the service, compared with 7.5 million for the next most popular, his son Don Jr.

'Shocking abuse of office'

In a letter sent last week to Paul Atkins, the chairman of the market regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff demanded an investigation into whether the arrangement was legal.

"This appears to be an outrageous abuse of the President's office for his personal benefit that undermines everyday investors and the integrity of our markets, while enriching Wall Street and other wealthy insiders," they wrote.

"President Trump has a significant financial interest in Trump Media, based on his ownership of roughly 41pc of the company, and, as a result, stands to profit from the launch of this service.

"Trump Media's plan to disseminate market-moving information through the President's own company, while charging insiders for access ahead of the public for the benefit of his company – and to the detriment of the investing public – represents a shocking abuse of the office of the President and the trust of the American public for his personal gain."

Mr Trump's posts can regularly move markets.

As well as pronouncements about the state of the war in Iran, which have moved oil prices and global stock markets, he regularly posts about individual companies to praise or denigrate them.

Shares in tech company Palantir jumped in April after Mr Trump praised the company, while US bank Citigroup rose in June after an endorsement from the president.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that at least five high-frequency trading firms had signed up to the service.

Mr Trump's stake in TMTG is worth around $1.1bn (£810m) even after its shares have fallen by 28pc this year. It has said it expects the Truth Social API service to become a meaningful source of revenue.

It is not yet clear whether any UK trading firms have signed up to the service.

XTX, one of Britain's largest trading companies, said it had not done so.

The Financial Conduct Authority declined to comment on whether it had any concerns about the service.

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