The firm that is slated to acquire the website, Truth Social, expressed concern that the former president’s legal issues will cause his popularity to drop. As a result, the website is having financial difficulties as its traffic continues to be meagre.
According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings from Digital World Acquisition, the company preparing to take Trump’s start-up, the Trump Media & Technology Group, public, the site, a clone of Twitter, which banned Trump after Jan. 6, 2021, still has no guaranteed source of revenue and an iffy path to growth.
This week, the corporation issued a warning that if Trump “becomes less popular or there are other controversies that impair his reputation,” it might hurt its revenue. Since its peak in March, the company’s stock price has fallen by about 75%, and it revealed last week in a filing that it had lost $6.5 million in the first half of the year.
A surge in user activity on Truth Social resulted from the FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Florida residence Mar-a-Lago, and Trump has been using the platform as one of his primary internet platforms ever then. In response to an FBI affidavit regarding secret records held at his Palm Beach home, he remarked, or “truthed,” on Friday, “WE GAVE THEM MUCH.”
There are indications that the company’s financial foundation is starting to crumble. According to Fox Business, which broke the story first, the Trump organisation stopped paying RightForge, a conservative web hosting business, in March and currently owes it more than $1 million.
The business has also had issues with certain fundamental aspects of running a business. This month, the U.S. Patent and Register Office rejected the company’s request to trademark “Truth Social,” noting the “potential of confusion” with other businesses with the same names, including an app called “VERO — True Social,” which was originally made available in 2015.
Requests for reaction from officials at Trump’s business and Digital World went unanswered.
In its advertising, RightForge has positioned itself as a cornerstone of the conservative movement to create a second internet free from “Big Tech repression.” Martin Avila, the company’s CEO, declined to comment but said, “We totally support the president and his objectives.”
Two persons with knowledge of the incident, who requested anonymity to discuss personal matters, however, claimed that the nonpayment had sparked resentment that Trump could underpay a supporter of his “free speech” objective.
In recent weeks, the sources claimed, RightForge and the Trump firm have only spoken with one another via attorneys. The stock of Digital World Acquisition fell by roughly 7% on Friday.
Over the years, Trump’s businesses have encountered numerous similar payment disputes. There can be no guarantees that [Trump’s media company] won’t go bankrupt, Digital World has also stated in previous SEC filings that “a number of companies that were linked with [Trump] have filed for bankruptcy.”
In reality, Digital World’s filings have continually been pessimistic about the prospect of Truth Social’s success. In May, Trump’s firm warned that it “may never produce any operating revenues or ever achieve profitable operations” and that “its business will most certainly fail” if it is “unsuccessful in resolving [its] risks.”
In June, Digital World claimed that it had been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury and was the subject of SEC and Justice Department investigations that might prevent its merger with Trump’s company from going through. The deal, which was initially slated for this year, has been put on hold indefinitely.
Additionally, according to Digital World’s papers, in order for Trump’s social network to be successful commercially, millions of users must “frequently use” it.
The site’s most popular user, Trump, has less than 4 million followers, and statistics from the site reveals that just a small number of users have been contributing to its most popular trending topics, such as #DefundTheFBI, in recent days. For instance, Twitter claims that there are roughly 37 million active users daily in the United States.
Truth Social has developed into a popular forum for pro-Trump debate and fury. A profile that matched the suspect’s identity, location, and photo was found on Truth Social. The user encouraged followers in posts to “murder” FBI agents “on sight” before being shot and killed after attempting to storm an FBI office in Cincinnati.
However, according to traffic estimates from the online analytics company Similarweb, Truth Social’s viewership has decreased in the days after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. Its daily U.S. viewership has decreased from approximately 1.5 million on the day of its debut to under 300,000.
Although bogus accounts, a lengthy wait list, and other technical issues marred the site’s launch in February, the estimations reveal that that was also the height of the site’s online popularity.
Trump is under investigation by the Justice Department for his involvement in the disturbances that broke out at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and for how he handled confidential documents after losing the election. His long-standing real estate and licencing company, the Trump Organization, is the focus of civil investigators in New York.
Even his appointment of ardent Trump supporter and former Republican congressman Devin Nunes as the company’s CEO is under investigation. Trump Media must give information on Nunes’ employment to Hearst Magazine Media and journalist Ryan Lizza, whom Nunes has sued for defamation, according to a ruling made earlier this month by Magistrate Judge William Matthewman in West Palm Beach, Florida.
