Trump's Truth Social app in a financial pickle
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With just a modest start of six months, the platform Truth Social already owes $1.6 million.
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Former President Donald Trump
Fox Business Network reported Thursday that Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, has halted payments to the company that hosts it, RightForge, and owes it $1.6 million.
A RightForge spokesman would not comment on the reports that Truth Social is not paying its bills.
"RightForge was on the ground floor of building Truth Social and will continue to support President Trump in his endeavors," the company stated.
Meanwhile, the parent company's merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) - a blank check company formed specifically to carry out a merger - has yet to take place, 10 months after the announcement that it would happen. This fusion is supposed to bring in fresh funding for the Trump platform.
DWAC published Thursday a call for a special shareholder meeting on September 6 at which investors will be asked to approve a 1-year delay for carrying out the merger - until Sept 8 of 2023.
However, without a favorable vote for an extension, the blank check company said it will be forced to dissolve.
Financial data published Thursday showed that as of late June, DWAC had only $3,000 in cash on hand. Truth Social bills itself as Trump's answer to platforms like Twitter, which the former President used as a political megaphone until he was ejected from it after a mob he had egged on assaulted the US Capitol in January 2021.
6 months later, in an Apple ranking of social media apps downloaded onto iPhones, it came in 30th place. The Statista database claims that Truth Social is downloaded only around 50,000 times per week, leading to a 550% increase in downloads since the Mar-a-Lago raids.
Trump's account on Truth Social currently holds 3.91 million followers, whereas on Twitter he had 79.5 million when he was booted "due to the risk of further incitement of violence."
In December, TMTG raised $1 billion from private investors and was to receive $293 million in cash through a merger with DWAC, but the latter's activities have been under scrutiny from the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Shares in DWAC have fallen 71% since hitting their peak in early March, and the platform's parent company, Trump Media and Technology Group, has not responded to a request for comment.
