The number of companies paying for faster access to President Donald Trump's Truth Social posts has grown since the service launched earlier this month, according to Trump Media's interim chief executive.
"We're getting into the mid-teens now, and we're climbing," Kevin McGurn told CNBC's Squawk Box on Monday when asked about subscriber counts for the service called Truth API. That represents an increase from two weeks ago, when McGurn said during Trump Media's first-ever quarterly earnings call that more than 10 customer agreements had been signed. The service went live on August 1.
Truth API charges up to $100,000 per month for access. Critics have argued that because President Trump frequently makes market-moving announcements through his Truth Social account, the service effectively allows deep-pocketed firms to act on valuable information before the general public sees it. Trump is a top shareholder in Trump Media and Technology Group, with his stake held in a revocable trust.
McGurn defended the offering in his Monday appearance, though he offered no additional detail about which companies have signed on or what types of firms make up the customer base. The service has drawn intense scrutiny since its announcement, with the core concern being that early access to a sitting president's posts carries a different weight than a typical paid data feed.
The subscriber count, while still relatively small, has continued to climb through August. McGurn indicated on Monday that the company expects that number to keep rising.
