Has Truth Social gone public?

Donald Trump visualized Truth Social as a new kind of social media, one where he could whine as much as he wanted without repercussions. So far, Trump’s social network has been irrelevant, but that can change once it goes public.

Following the 2021 United States Capitol attack, Trump was banned from Facebook and X — formerly known as Twitter. Angry that he couldn’t use his fame to incite insurgence, Trump decided the only thing to do was create his own social media, where every member would be free to bully each other without worrying about the law or basic rules of decorum. It would take almost a year for Truth Social to go online, which proved much more complicated than Trump initially predicted.

Truth Social has struggled with financial problems since its inception. However, the social network’s parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), is about to be absorbed by the publicly traded shell company Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC).

Will Truth Social remain active in the future and when will it go public?

Truth Social was launched on Feb. 21, 2022. Trump’s social media promised to incentivize free speech and protect its users from persecution. However, the platform faced several financial and regulatory issues that prevented it from becoming a true competitor to other social networks.

For starters, Trump’s idea of free speech led to a legal notice in which Truth Social exempted itself from any crimes platform users commit. Of course, that meant Truth Social couldn’t launch app versions of itself on Google Play and Apple Store, both of which only validate the distribution of apps when the creators comply with their own policies. After taking a few steps back and implementing a moderation system to control users, Truth Social hit app stores. The move, however, didn’t help the social network to grow. 

To make matters worse, Truth Social is constantly being accused of censorship, as posts containing specific keywords mysteriously disappear from the platform. For instance, any posts about the Capital attack and public hearings about this tragic event in U.S. history vanished without warning. Mentions of abortion also tend to be removed. Finally, Truth Social tends to shadow-ban liberal-inclined users and content, and we can all appreciate the irony of this supposed “free speech” network.

The final nail in the Truth Social credibility coffin came from President Joe Biden, who created an account for his reelection campaign on Truth Social. Biden’s campaign account quickly surpassed Trump’s in number of followers, indicating that more people are using the platform as a joke than willing to give it a fair chance.

Since the platform frequently functions as an echo chamber for conspiracy theories and hate speech, Truth Social struggles to find companies willing to advertise there. In fact, a financial report from November 2023 underlines the platform has lost at least $31.5 million. It’s no wonder Trump reportedly tried to convince Elon Musk to buy his failed social network. When that failed, Trump began to pursue a merger with DWAC, which was the only thing that could save his investment.

On March 22, DWAC approved the merger that would turn the TMTG’s company value into shares to be sold on Nasdaq’s stock exchange. After the deal, Trump will own most of the merged company or approximately 79 million shares. That’s a huge number, especially considering DWAC’s stock price closed at $36.94 on Friday. This comes in the wake of the towering half-a-billion bond the former POTUS’s lawyers say he is struggling to cough up in the civil fraud case (though his lawyers look nothing but giant liars after his recent proclamation).

So, yes, Truth Social has the green light to go public, but it doesn’t exactly solve Trump’s mountain of troubles.

The inflated price of DWAC’s shares doesn’t assure that Truth Social will stay afloat. The shares of DWCA tend to fluctuate a lot, eroding investors’ trust. Plus, without securing a steady source of income, Truth Social will only drag the newly merged company down. Still, after a couple of months, when all the legal dust settles, Trump can sell all his shares and abandon ship before the whole thing implodes. The extra cash will surely come in handy, as the former President has been facing costly legal battles.

The future doesn’t look bright for Truth Social. Yet, regardless of what happens to the social network, Trump might have found a way to profit from his failure.