Truth Social on the brink of failure?

Created
Sun, 03/09/2023 - 04:00
Updated
Sun, 03/09/2023 - 04:00
That’s pretty much what Truth Social is all about. Just Trump worship. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be enough: The  complex deal to take Donald Trump’s social-media platform Truth Social public faces a crucial test next week that could determine whether it becomes a multibillion-dollar company that the former US president once vowed would stand up to “big tech” or instead languish in financial limbo. Under the terms of the deal, announced in October 2021, Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group was destined to merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company, or Spac. But shareholders in Digital World are now being asked to give the company another year to complete the deal. If they refuse to do so at a meeting on 8 September, the enterprise may never become the $1.7bn company it once envisioned. The path to tech riches the deal floated for Trump and his supporters has not been smooth. Jay Ritter, a University of Florida finance professor, told the Washington Post this week that the merger has “been pretty much unprecedented in terms of all of the glitches”. The Post published a detailed exploration of the platform’s current position, prompting Shannon Devine, a spokeswoman for Trump Media, to accuse the paper of posting “a heaping pile of bias”. Soon after it was announced Digital World’s plan to merge with Trump Media was hit with allegations that conversations between the two had taken place before they were permitted under Spac rules. In March, Patrick Orlando was fired as CEO by Digital World’s board and a former…