Two high-ranking executives behind Truth Social — former President Donald Trump’s alternative social media platform — have quit, according to Reuters. Truth Social was rolled out to the general public in the form of an iPhone app towards the end of February, and since then, the site and the business operation responsible for it have become further mired in trouble. Prospective users have been placed on at times stunningly lengthy wait-list, and once on the site, it’s not even clear that the former president’s interest is in making the platform viable — he’s yet to post since the app publicly launched! Truth Social also remains unavailable for both Android and desktop users; it’s only accessible via iPhones. Downloads on the Apple app store have dramatically fallen — and the stock price of the so-called blank check company associated with the endeavor has also dropped.
Jimmy Kimmel: “Truth Social has been such a disappointment so far, Trump may have to rename it Don Jr.”
— Duty To Warn 🔉 (@duty2warn) April 1, 2022
Per Reuters, the two executives who’ve quit their high-ranking roles are Josh Adams and Billy Boozer, both of whom hadn’t previously been publicly confirmed to have worked for the company. For some reason, those behind Truth Social have been publicly cagey about who actually works on the project. Although Adams and Boozer were referenced in an investor presentation last year and have since taken to posting on the platform itself, in neither case were the pair’s last names made available. According to Reuters, Adams and Boozer apparently served as chiefs of technology and product development, respectively, at the Trump Media & Technology Group, which is the Trump company behind Truth Social. One source remarked to Reuters that Adams was the “brains” behind the tech infrastructure of Truth Social, adding: “If Josh has left… all bets are off.” In other words… this whole thing does not seem to be on a positive trajectory.
Here's some news about Truth Social. Its Chief of Technology has resigned. Wait – there's more news. Its head of Product Development has resigned.
I shouldn't need to say it, but … ETTD.— Duty To Warn 🔉 (@duty2warn) April 4, 2022
Reuters added a selection of caveats to their reporting on these resignations, explaining that they “could not determine the specific circumstances behind the executives’ resignations, or whether they have been replaced or their duties reassigned. It also remains unclear whether Adams and Boozer still work on the venture in a different capacity after quitting their executive posts.” The Trump firm where they apparently used to work in executive roles is set to merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) — the aforementioned so-called blank check company, whose share price stood at under $60 early this Monday. A little over a month ago, the company’s share price surpassed $95 — so again, the trajectory here doesn’t appear great.
NEW: Donald Trump endorses Sarah Palin in US House race.
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) April 4, 2022
As explained by Reuters, there’s been $1 billion pledged for the Trump Media & Technology Group — but that money isn’t set to actually be obtained by those behind the pro-Trump social media operation until the planned merger between it and DWAC finalizes, which might take months. Federal financial authorities have placed the operation under investigation. Although the feds haven’t apparently publicly confirmed the nature of their probe, concerns were raised about whether the planned merger was deliberated over without making required disclosures to federal officials. Seemingly relatedly, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been pursuing communications between DWAC and the Trump company. Read more at this link.
Trump doesn't use his own Truth Social app, leaving it to be overrun by crypto-hawking bots https://t.co/kINgweedTC
— Jacob Shamsian (@JayShams) April 4, 2022
