Trump himself has almost four million followers on “Truth Social”.
(Photo: AP)
new York In view of the raid on ex-President Donald Trump’s property in Mar-a-Lago (Florida) and various legislative packages, there was not much evidence of the summer break in the USA. Now Congress is also resuming its work in Washington. And in the campaign for the midterm elections in November, candidates will position themselves on stages around the country and on social media online in the coming weeks.
In this context, the question is exciting: What will happen next with “Truth”, former President Trump’s social media mouthpiece? It recently had to struggle with various problems: weak user numbers, financial problems and operational errors.
Banned from West Coast platforms like Twitter and Facebook, Trump has built his own social medium: Truth. Like-minded people can exchange ideas on Truth – without the censorship of left-leaning Silicon Valley. Trump supporters have been rushing there against the FBI federal police and prosecutors since the raid in Florida. But some criticism of the Democrats is also expressed there that other media do not address.
After a rocky start with software problems in February, “Truth Social” has meanwhile been able to win several million users. Ex-President Trump himself has almost four million followers. However, that’s a far cry from the 88.7 million who used to follow him on Twitter.
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But not only the weak user numbers are causing problems for the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), whose main business is “Truth Social”. It is also the impending failure of the planned SPAC deal that is endangering the Twitter competitor’s funding.
Trump’s stock market plans could fail
Actually, the “Digital World Acquisition Corp” (DWAC) was supposed to take over TMTG this year. DWAC is a so-called “Special Purpose Acquisition Company” (SPAC) – an investment vehicle that first goes public and then invests in other companies. With the takeover by DWAC, Trump’s TMTG could not only raise a billion dollars, but also get to the stock market more easily without its own IPO.
But recently, the DWAC has distanced itself more and more from the planned deal in official documents. Just a few days ago, in a document from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), she called on her shareholders to plead for the takeover to be postponed until next year.
In another SEC document, the DWAC warns, “If President Trump becomes less popular or there are further controversies that damage his credibility or people’s desire to use a platform associated with him and financially beneficial to him, then the operational Results of TMTG… be negatively affected by it”.
Credibility might not only be threatened by the top-secret documents Trump brought to Mar-A-Lago from the White House. SEC and law enforcement investigations could also hurt business.
They are currently investigating whether there was an agreement between Trump Media and the investment vehicle DWAC before the IPO. That would not have been allowed under US company law. SPACs may only start looking for takeover targets after their IPO.
A report by Fox Business, a broadcaster close to Trump, also says that money is tight at TMTG: According to this, the Trump company has not paid the conservative web hosting service RightForge since March and owes the company more than one million dollars.
DWAC’s share price has already fallen three quarters of its value since peaking in early March.
This month, the Patent and Trademark Office also rejected the application for the trademark “Truth Social” because it is too similar to the trademark “VERO – True Social”, which has been pending since 2015. All bad news for the mouthpiece of the ex-president, who could possibly run for the presidency again.
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