NBC: New bill would stop Trump Media from selling speedy access to president’s posts
By David Ingram
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said he plans to introduce legislation Tuesday to ban the president from selling expedited access to his statements after President Donald Trump’s social media company launched a paid service over the weekend for real-time, potentially market-moving alerts.
According to a copy of the legislation provided by Padilla’s office, it would ban the president and the vice president and any entities in which they have substantial financial interests — including partnerships or companies with members of their families — from selling nonpublic information, including real-time data feeds of information derived from their positions in government. It would also ban any third party from purchasing any such information derived from the president or the vice president.
The proposal adds to the bipartisan backlash against Truth API, a paid service from TrumpMedia and Technology Group that went live Saturday. TMTG has said the service will provide the“fastest access” to the most influential posts on the Truth Social app. Trump owns 41% of the company.
“This is out in the open — Donald Trump is the most corrupt President in American history,” Padilla said in a statement. “Despite already being the richest president in history, PresidentTrump’s number one priority in office is to make himself richer while everyday Americans struggle to make ends meet.”
TMTG defended the new service.
“Senate Democrats continue to mischaracterize Truth API either out of ideological opposition to free markets or a failure to grasp the distinction between public and nonpublic information — or,quite possibly, both,” it said in a statement.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Padilla, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he is calling the legislation the Stop CorruptTrading Act.
“Selling access to his market-moving social media posts is just one example of the brazen corruption we’ve seen coming out of the Oval Office — and I am fighting back to put a stop to it,”he said. “Americans deserve a government that works for them, not one that’s for sale to hedge funds and Wall Street banks that can afford the subscription fee.”
For anyone convicted of selling nonpublic information, the legislation includes penalties of up to two times the profit from the transactions and five years in prison. For anyone convicted of buying it, the legislation includes a penalty of up to two times the profit from the transaction.The bill includes a statute of limitations of six years, not counting a potential defendant’s time in office.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., are co-sponsors.
Other Democrats have urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whetherTrump Media is violating current law by selling access to Trump’s posts. An SEC spokesperson declined to comment.
Some Republicans have also attacked Truth API, calling it an inappropriate form of buying access.
The service is marketed as one for financial services businesses that are looking to get an edge in trades that could be influenced by Trump’s statements. Many such businesses already get news of Trump’s posts through third-party services, but Truth API promises direct notification in milliseconds. It says the service is designed for “high-frequency and algorithmic trading firms that require a low-latency, machine-readable feed rather than manual tracking.”
TMTG has not disclosed the price of Truth API. The Financial Times reported last month that the company had discussed charging traders and investors as much as $100,000 a month for access.
It is not clear how many subscribers the service has. A company spokesperson did not answer questions sent by email.
Other social media platforms, such as Elon Musk’s X, also sell access to real-time feeds via APIs,or application programming interfaces, but TMTG is the only one in which Trump has disclosed a major stake.
Trump has often used Truth Social posts to make announcements during his second term,including declarations about the U.S.-Iran war, pending nominations or other topics that can move financial markets.
Trump’s is by far the most-followed account on Truth Social, with 13 million followers, according to the site. He started the site in 2021 after other social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, suspended his accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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