Trump’s micro-blogging platform Truth Social loses $73 mn since launch

San Francisco : Former US president Donald Trump’s micro-blogging platform Truth Social has suffered $73 million net loss since its launch in February 2022.

A new filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has revealed that the social media platform suffered $50 million net loss last year and $23 million in the first half of 2023.

According to the filing, Trump Media & Technology Group’s (TMTG) accountants have raised “substantial doubt” about the platform’s future without help from that long delayed SPAC merger. Truth Social was generally made available in the first quarter of 2022.

“The company prides itself on operating its platform, to the best of its ability, without relying on Big Tech companies. Partnering with pro-free-speech alternative technology firms, TMTG fully launched Truth Social for iOS in April 2022. TMTG debuted the Truth Social web application in May 2022, and the Truth Social Android App became available in the Samsung Galaxy and Google Play stores in October 2022,” according to the filing.

TMTG introduced direct messaging to all versions of Truth Social in 2022, released a “Groups” feature for users in May 2023, and announced the general availability of Truth Social internationally in June 2023.

Since its launch, Truth Social has experienced substantial growth, claimed the filing. In September, Truth Social got a lifeline after Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company, that could infuse the social media platform with cash agreed to extend a critical deadline for a year.

Digital World shareholders agreed to extend the deadline again with about 72 per cent of shareholders voting to push the merger deadline until September 8, 2024, according to the company.

A merger would release to Trump Media $290 million held by Digital World and another $1 billion that private investors had committed to the combined company, PBS reported. Trump’s company remains on its own, paying staff, leases and other expenses from $36 million raised from earlier sales of promissory notes, the report noted.