Market Manipulation by Other Means: Trump’s Truth API and the Erosion of Transparency

The introduction of Truth API, a feature on President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform, has raised concerns about the potential for market manipulation and the erosion of transparency in U.S. markets. The service provides millisecond-faster access to potentially market-moving posts for paying investors, raising questions about who owns this information and how it is being used.

Tyler Gellasch, CEO of Healthy Markets Association and former SEC counsel, has noted that “milliseconds matter in modern markets,” but so does the integrity of the system. The introduction of Truth API coincides with the SEC’s consideration of allowing companies to move from quarterly to semiannual disclosures. This change would give companies more flexibility in their reporting schedule, but it also raises concerns about market transparency and fairness.

Renée Jones, the SEC’s former director of corporation finance, has warned that “material nonpublic information belongs to the U.S. government or to the American people, not to Truth Social or President Trump.” This highlights the importance of maintaining the integrity of the disclosure system, which is designed to keep investors on equal footing.

The intersection of these two developments creates an asymmetry in investing that threatens to undermine the core principles of a fair market. As Chester Spatt, Carnegie Mellon professor and former chief economist at the SEC, noted, “I’m more worried about the asymmetry in the case of the Truth Social posts than I am about the semiannual reporting.” The disclosure system exists precisely to prevent this kind of unequal access to information.

President Trump’s financial disclosures show that he earned $2.2 billion in 2025, with more than half coming from crypto assets. He now stands to benefit further through Truth API, which blurs the line between personal property, government property, and private assets leveraged for profit. This raises concerns about the potential for conflicts of interest and the erosion of trust in U.S. markets.

If investors lose confidence in the integrity of the system, they may be less likely to invest in the securities markets. As Gellasch warned, “If investors think the system’s rigged, they’re less likely to invest in the securities markets.” This could have severe consequences for the American competitive advantage in the capital market.

The parallels between this situation and previous accounting scandals like Enron and WorldCom are striking. If investors think the system is rigged, they will abandon ship – and that’s precisely what could happen here. The SEC has a responsibility to protect market transparency and fairness; it must take immediate action to prevent the erosion of trust in U.S. markets.

Ultimately, this is not just about Trump’s Truth API or semiannual reporting – it’s about the fundamental principles that underpin our financial system. As Gellasch noted, “When you have a market that looks like that, it looks rigged.” We can’t afford to let it get that far; we must act now to safeguard transparency and fairness in U.S. markets before the damage is done.