The Trump family's media company is set to offer high-speed access to the US president's social media posts, allowing banks and trading firms to react to market-moving announcements before the general public.
The paid-for, licensed data feed, called Truth API, will deliver posts from the platform's ten most influential accounts in "milliseconds", significantly faster than a regular push notification.
The data feed is designed for organisations "most impacted by the cost of a delay in information", such as algorithmic trading firms, which rely on rapid access to market-moving announcements to inform their trading decisions.
The Trump family's media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, has announced the paid-for data feed in a bid to squeeze revenue from its social media platform, Truth Social.
The president's social media posts have previously moved markets, with tariff announcements causing currency fluctuations and swinging the pound.
Businesses in the UK, such as those with dollar exposure, hedging input prices, or managing pension schemes, will now be reacting to news that paying machines have already traded on.
The data feed is the latest attempt by the company to monetise its platform, following plans to integrate artificial intelligence into Truth Social and ventures into streaming and cryptocurrency.
However, the family connection has raised eyebrows, with the Trump family holding a significant stake in the company and some of the most-followed accounts on Truth Social belonging to the president's sons.
Ethics watchdogs have criticised the mixing of the family's business interests with the president's influence and access to information, creating an incentive for him to paywall public information to enrich himself.
Whether it is lawful remains a separate question, with some experts arguing that platforms are allowed to offer clients early access even if it disadvantages some market participants.
For British SMEs, the lesson is less about Washington ethics and more about market structure, with the gap between an announcement and awareness of it now having a price tag.
