The Future of Trump’s Truth Social Platform; Will it Sink or Swim?
Edited by: TJVNews.com
Truth Social, the social media platform launched by former President Donald Trump as a free speech alternative for political conservatives to express their perspectives without fear of censorship or retribution is now facing serious financial and legal stress as it attempts to keep its head above water from a business standpoint.
Trump founded Truth Social in February to broadcast his views in the aftermath of his permanent banning from Twitter where he garnered millions of followers.
In August, Axios.com reported that sources familiar with Truth Social’s business woes told them that the social media platform owes one of its vendors, an internet infrastructure company for conservatives called RightForge, around $1.6 million in backdated payments.
If Truth Social fails to come up with the cash to pay back RightForge, the dispute could move to arbitration, one source who spoke to Axios.com noted.
“RightForge is committed to servicing the client,” CEO Martin Avila told Axios. “We were there from the ground floor and we support the president and all of his endeavors and we’re committed to building a free speech American ideas based internet.”
The situation, first reported by Fox Business, puts Truth Social at risk of losing the cloud hosting support that it needs to operate, according to the Axios.com report.
Axios also reported that beyond financial issues, Truth Social and the blank check company it plans to merge with in order to go public are facing serious legal problems and regulatory probes that could derail those plans. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has refused Trump’s application for a trademark for “Truth Social.”
The blank check company — called Digital World Acquisition Corp. — is under investigation by the SEC for possibly negotiating their deal prior to going public, which is illegal if true, as was reported by Axios.com and an investor sued Digital World Acquisition Corp.’s CEO last year, claiming fraud.
In a recently published report in the New York Times, it reported that two Truth Social executives resigned subsequent to the launch of the app was riddled with problems. Another executive was fired after filing a whistle-blower complaint, claiming that Truth’s parent company was relying on “fraudulent misrepresentations.” Two federal investigations are putting $1.3 billion in much-needed financing in jeopardy, according to the NYT report.
Despite being mired in serious fiscal concerns, those logging into Truth Social during this time were met with other right wing activists who were filling its pages with posts.
Ahead of the all important midterm elections, Truth Social’s long-term future remains in doubt, but experts say the app itself has only grown more influential in conservative circles, according to the NYT report.
Leading the pack is its founder. Trump uses Truth Social as his primary venue to disseminate his political brand and amplify his messages to people across the globe. The Times reports that his social media platform reach more than four million followers and regularly reverberates across mainstream news and social media sites.
A coalition of right wingers have joined Trump on Truth Social including such prominent politically conservative celebrities and media personalities such as radio host and television commentator Dan Bongino and such elected officials as Republican member of rhe US House of Representatives, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia who has made her fair share of headlines as a vocal Trump supporter.
Others who share the social media stage with Trump are acolytes of all stripes on the right wing spectrum including those pushing conspiracy theories, influencers and a panoply of concerned voters.
The NYT report said that according to estimates from Similarweb, a company that monitors web traffic, te Truth Social website had 1.7 million unique visitors from the United States in September. While that number does not represent any sort of competition against such platforms as Twitter and Facebook, Truth Social’s numbers do far exceed that of its conservative rivals in the same genre such as Gab, Parler, Gettr, MeWe and Minds, which averaged about 360,000 unique visitors from the United States that month, as was reported by the Times.
Recently, embattled rapper Kanye West had said that he was considering purchasing Parler after he social media accounts were suspended for posting anti-Semitic messages.
At a recent rally, Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for governor of Arizona, asked the crowd gathered, “How many of you are on Truth Social?” “If you’re not on it, go there and get on it quick.”Her statements were met with thunderous applause.
