Trump Media CEO Defends Paid Early Access to Trump's Truth Social Posts

Trump Media & Technology Group's interim chief executive is standing by a service that charges companies up to $100,000 a month for faster access to President Donald Trump's posts on Truth Social, and he says business is picking up.

Kevin McGurn told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday that customer agreements for the service, known as Truth API, have grown to the "mid-teens" and are still climbing. That is up from the "more than 10" agreements McGurn reported two weeks earlier during Trump Media's first quarterly earnings call as a public company, according to CNBC. The service launched August 1.

A Pricey Product With Critics

McGurn framed the demand as coming from the market itself. "This was demand that came to us from the market," he said, according to CNBC, when asked about the growing customer list.

The product has drawn sharp criticism because of what is at stake in a Trump post. The president has repeatedly used Truth Social to announce policy moves and other news that can swing stock and bond prices within minutes. Critics argue that Truth API effectively hands paying firms, mostly well-funded trading operations, a head start on information that reaches everyone else for free, according to CNBC.

Trump Media has not disclosed who its Truth API customers are, and CNBC's report did not identify any of them by name.

Trump's Financial Stake

The arrangement is complicated by the president's own financial ties to the company. Trump is one of Trump Media's largest shareholders, though his stake is held in a revocable trust rather than in his own name, according to CNBC.

That structure means the president has a direct financial interest in a service that monetizes early access to his own social media posts, a dynamic that has fueled much of the criticism McGurn was pressed to answer on air.

McGurn did not identify specific new customers or explain what kinds of firms are subscribing, and CNBC's report did not include further detail on how the mid-teens figure breaks down by sector or size of firm.