Premium access to Truth Social: what's the deal?
Truth Social, the social media platform owned by the Trump Media & Technology Group, has introduced a paid premium access service. Stock market traders and financial news providers in particular could be willing to pay high fees for faster access to posts with a wide reach – including those by the US President himself. Europe's press is appalled.
Insider trading legitimised at the highest level
The Süddeutsche Zeitung is appalled:
“For up to 100,000 dollars a month, people can read his posts before the general public, thus buying themselves an information advantage and using it to speculate and make money in the event that a presidential post once again moves the markets. ... There is another name for this: insider trading, legitimised at the highest level. With this move, Trump has definitively turned his office into a self-service shop. ... The most scandalous aspect, however, is that almost no one in the US is making a fuss about it. ... Trump's self-enrichment and the tame reactions to it show just how broken the American political system really is.”
Not the way to earn honorary titles
Dagens Nyheter casts about for a fitting nickname for Trump:
“In this way the US president earns a little extra pocket money – and sells information about his decisions to Wall Street. Trump, who began his career as a property magnate, can perhaps best be described as a simple conman, one with far too much political clout. King, oil sheikh or conman? The one thing Donald Trump most certainly is not is leader of the free world.”
Worse to come?
Weekendavisen fears a trend that is far from over:
“The US laws that govern the president's financial circumstances are rather weak, and American society must therefore rely on a strong framework of norms surrounding the office of the president. The 47th president is either bringing this set of norms crashing down like an avalanche or redefining them – depending on your perspective. At the same time, after a year and a half of Trump's presidency it almost comes as a relief that the Truth API merely offers digital quick access to information, rather than providing longer-term advance notice of the president's decisions. ... But who can say whether that won't be the next step?”