Since it was launched in February, the social network Truth Social has faced successive problems. When the app’s announcement was accompanied by setbacks, two company executives resigned.
Another was fired after filing a complaint from an anonymous whistleblower, saying that Truth Social’s parent company was listening to fraudulent information. Two federal investigations are jeopardizing much-needed funding of $1.3 billion.
But users who logged into Truth Social every day back then saw something very different: a dynamic right-wing ecosystem that was increasingly buzzing with activity. The long-term future remains in doubt, but experts say the app itself is gaining increasing influence in conservative circles ahead of the midterms, the midterm elections.
This is largely due to former President Donald Trump, one of the founders of the app and its big star, who uses the platform as his main megaphone. His publications reach more than 4 million followers and have repercussions on major conventional media sites and social networks.
Joining him at Truth Social is an entire right-wing coalition, including conservative celebrities like broadcaster and TV commentator Dan Bongino, incendiary political figures like Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, and a whole constellation of conspiracy theorists, extreme influencers right and ordinary voters.
The site had 1.7 million visitors in September, according to estimates from the company Similar Web, which monitors network traffic. Thus, it barely appears as a competitor of giants like Facebook and Twitter. But it is much larger than its closest rivals, including Gab, Parler, Gettr, MeWe and Minds, which received an average of 360,000 visitors each in the same month.
At a recent rally, Arizona Republican presidential candidate Kari Lake, who has been sowing doubts about the integrity of the election, asked those in attendance, “How many of you are in Truth Social?” The crowd erupted in applause. “If you’re not, come in soon!”
The site became a key organizing platform for election deniers ahead of the midterms, stoking fears about voter fraud and spreading rumors about election problems. One group used the app to call for polling stations in search of illegal votes, posting a photo that went viral and helped promote similar efforts in at least 10 states.
Trump has been using it to test legal defenses as multiple investigations close in on him. He continues to shape Republican campaign arguments and promote candidates. And it endorses messages and images from the QAnon conspiratorial movement, which has also found new ground in Social Truth.
The real test may come in the coming months, when initial enthusiasm around the app is expected to wane and problems with its funding intensify. The site shows little sign of trying to appeal to a wider audience from across the political spectrum, something necessary to achieve the lofty goals set by the company before launch.
The site’s parent company, Trump Media and Technology Group, is pinning its hopes on a deal announced a year ago with Digital World Acquisition, a special-purpose acquisitions (SPAC) firm that raised $300 million with a initial public offering of shares.
The company later got assurances from three dozen hedge funds that when the merger is complete, it will release $1 billion in additional funding.
But the deal is now in doubt, and investigations by federal prosecutors and regulators could force Digital World to liquidate assets and return the money it raised in the initial public offering to shareholders, which would put the merger at risk. Digital World is struggling to persuade shareholders to pass a measure that would give it until September 2023 to complete the merger.
If the Digital World deal falls through, Trump Media will have to find funding to keep Truth Social. It has so far raised $37 million, mostly from Republican political donors.
William Wilkerson, a former executive who was fired in October after he publicly said he filed an anonymous whistleblower’s complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said in an interview that the company has been spending about $1.7 million a month. Truth Social has recently started posting ads on its website.
But Wilkerson said that if the Digital World deal fails, a plausible option would be for Trump Media to consider a merger with Rumble, the conservative alternative to YouTube, which has emerged as Trump Media’s top business partner.
Wilkerson and a second person familiar with the operations said half of the people who work at Trump Media’s Sarasota, Florida office are Rumble employees. Rumble is responsible for much of Truth Social’s day-to-day operation. In August, Trump’s company joined the video-sharing company’s ad platform.
Rumble recently completed its own merger with a SPAC, which gave it access to nearly $400 million in cash on hand. “It’s very likely that Rumble will now be a publicly traded company,” Wilkerson said.
Trump Media has not addressed a potential future merger with Rumble. But in an emailed statement, the company blamed the SEC for the delay in completing the merger with Digital World. “While its mission is to protect retail shareholders,” Trump Media said, “the SEC is deliberately harming them with its scheme to illicitly target political targets. And it stands to face serious consequences for that.”
Rumble did not respond to requests for comment.
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