Critics argue that advantage is the product's core purpose. National Review's Charles C. W. Cooke wrote that the only reason anyone would want priority access to Truth Social is to gain priority access to Trump's pronouncements, and the only reason to want that is to act on them for pecuniary gain. Fortune reported that five Wall Street firms had already signed up for the service, gaining access to posts milliseconds before the general public.
The legal and ethical objections have been building since before the launch. On July 29, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff asked SEC Chair Paul Atkins to investigate before the service went live, pointing to Truth Social posts they said had moved markets, including posts referencing Citigroup, Intel, and Palantir. Senator Mark Warner separately wrote to six bank trade groups urging them not to buy the feed. Representative Jamie Raskin demanded records from Trump Media directly, giving the company until August 13 to respond.
Raskin's letter put a number on the personal financial stake. Citing Trump's roughly 41% ownership in Trump Media, Raskin said nearly half of each fee would go directly into Trump's pocket. The launch went ahead on schedule despite three separate congressional attempts to slow it down and a silent SEC.