Warren, Schiff Call on SEC to Investigate Trump Media's Plan to Give Wall Street Firms Faster Access to Truth Social Posts

Warren, Schiff Call on SEC to Investigate Trump Media's Plan to Give Wall Street Firms Faster Access to Truth Social Posts

"Trump Media's new data feed product is designed to work in the best interest of only a small few people: President Trump, his family, wealthy insiders, and high-frequency traders on Wall Street."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Paul Atkins, Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), calling on the SEC to investigate the Trump Media & Technology Group ("Trump Media")'s reported plan to sell Wall Street firms faster access to the President's market-moving posts on Truth Social in exchange for huge fees. The Senators urged the SEC to determine whether the proposed arrangement would violate applicable federal securities laws.

"The Truth API feed-which, according to some reports, will be offered for between $60,000 and $100,000 for a monthly subscription- will provide 'banks and trading firms the fastest access to posts from the 10 most influential Truth Social accounts,'" wrote the Senators. "The President has the largest number of followers on Truth Social. President Trump has a significant financial interest in Trump Media, based on his ownership of roughly 41% of the company, and, as a result, stands to profit from the launch of this service."

"President Trump's posts on Truth Social are one of the principal ways the President communicates with the public. The posts, along with others that will reportedly be offered as part of Trump Media's "Truth API" data feed, contain what the company's own representatives bill as 'market-moving information'..." continued the Senators. "(T)his information and trading speed advantage could result in enormous profits for firms and wealthy individuals that pay the subscription fee because 'Trump's social media posts often move markets.'"

"Because of this service, social media posts about the President's opinion or policy intent will not be available to the public or ordinary investors at the same speed as Wall Street firms and wealthy insiders paying for access… (E)arly access to President Trump's social media posts for Wall Street firms, wealthy insiders, and high-frequency traders will erode investor confidence in basic fairness of the markets," wrote the Senators.

"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…This announcement is just the latest example of the President mixing his personal business ventures with his presidential affairs,"the Senators concluded.

The Senators called on the SEC to immediately launch an investigation to determine whether the proposed arrangement violates federal securities law, and they requested answers to their questions ahead of Truth Media's August 1st launch of their new service.

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