Truth Social, the social network created to provide an uncensored platform for Donald Trump and his supporters after being banned from other social platforms, appears to be in a financial and popularity crisis.
Just over a year after its launch, the former U.S. president’s social network has reportedly already run out of money and owes $1.6 million. Moreover, Truth has a very low user base compared to other similar platforms.
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What is Truth Social and why it was created
Truth is a social network created by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) in an effort to provide an uncensored social media platform for Donald Trump and his supporters after the former U.S. president was banned from several other social platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, following his assault on the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
The platform had been launched on February 21, 2022. And, it is currently accessible only to users from the United States and Canada.
Truth Social is based on the free and open-source software Mastodon. However, the project was already off to a rocky start. Within days of its launch, the group Software Freedom Conservancy had accused Truth Social of license infringement.
Truth: Trump’s platform has already run out of money and very few users
After little more than a year after its launch, in fact, the former U.S. president’s social platform already seems to be in crisis. According to reports by FoxBusiness, Truth has reportedly stopped payments to its host company, RightForge, owing $1.6 million.
The host company claims that Truth has made only three payments since its launch. And then stopped them altogether as early as last March.
In addition to financial problems, the platform seems to have a very low user base. In short, in a nutshell, Truth is not used by anyone, and Trump barely gets on it.
Only in the last few days has the former president started posting frequently again about the indictment launched against him.
The former U.S. president, in fact, has only 3.9 million followers on the platform. This, compared to the 79 million he had on Twitter before he was banned for inciting his fans to attack Capitol Hill.
Truth is failing: none of the promises have been fulfilled
Truth social is part of the Trump Media & Technology Group (Tmtg). This is a holding company that also aimed to expand into other sectors such as streaming. With the goal of promoting the Trumpian political platform.
However, the long-awaited merger between Tmtg and Digital World Acquisition Corp (Dwac) – a company created ad hoc to list itself on the stock exchange – has not yet taken place. This, more than ten months after the initially planned date.
Dwac issued a statement these hours with a request for a special meeting of shareholders for Sept. 6, with the aim of approving a one-year postponement of the merger itself, until Sept. 8, 2023.
Without a favorable vote for an extension of the deal, the company said it will be forced to dissolve. According to the latest financial data, Dwac has only $3,000 in cash on hand. And the stock has lost more than 42 percent since the beginning of the year.
If President Trump loses popularity, or if there is any other controversy that could damage his credibility or people’s desire to use a platform that is connected to him and generates financial benefits for him, Trump Media’s business, as well as developments in this merger, could be weakened.
