Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, along with 20 Committee Democrats sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins, demanding an immediate investigation of reports that Trump Media & Technology Group plans to sell Wall Street trading firms advantageously-timed, machine-readable access to President Donald Trump's Truth Social posts through a new product known as the “Truth API.” 

In the letter, the lawmakers warn that Trump Media’s proposed Truth API could undermine market fairness and harm investors by selling Wall Street firms faster access to President Trump’s market-moving Truth Social posts. According to public reporting, the service would allow institutional investors and high-frequency trading firms to receive the President’s posts ahead of everyone else, giving sophisticated traders a lucrative informational advantage over everyday investors.  

“The President’s posts on Truth Social are not ordinary social media content. They have repeatedly moved markets in the United States, including through announcements of sweeping tariffs and of trade restrictions directed at China and war and peace decisions that have a direct and measurable impact on securities and swaps markets,” wrote the lawmakers. “The product appears purpose-built to facilitate conduct that is functionally indistinguishable from front-running the investing public. In modern markets, where an information advantage measured in milliseconds is decisive, an algorithmic subscriber that receives a machine-readable presidential statement even fractions of a second before the public can execute against the resting orders of retail investors and retirement savers who have had no opportunity to react. The predictable result is a systematic wealth transfer from ordinary investors, who transact at stale prices, to a small set of latency-advantaged firms.” 

the lawmakers also pose more than a dozen questions that underscore the significant legal, ethical, and market integrity concerns surrounding the proposed Truth API. In closing, she calls on the SEC to immediately review the service before its announced launch, determine whether it complies with federal securities laws and investor protection requirements, coordinate with other federal agencies to assess the broader market integrity and conflict-of-interest issues it raises, brief the Committee by August 1, and provide a written response outlining how the Commission will oversee the service, protect investors, and prevent market manipulation or other abusive trading practices. 

The Representatives who signed onto the letter include: Maxine Waters (D-CA); Joyce Beatty (D-OH); Janelle Bynum (D-OR); Sean Casten (D-IL); Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO); Bill Foster (D-IL); Sylvia Garcia (D-TX); Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX); Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ); Al Green (D-TX); Jim Himes (D-CT); Sam Liccardo (D-CA); Stephen Lynch (D-MA); Gregory Meeks (D-NY); Brittany Pettersen (D-CO); Ayanna Pressley (D-MA); Brad Sherman (D-CA); Rashida Tlaib (D-MI); Ritchie Torres (D-NY); Juan Vargas (D-CA); Nydia Velázquez (D-NY). 

See the full letter here.