Donald Trump's TRUTH Social App Is Underperforming — Will It Go Out of Business?

When Donald Trump loyalists learned the former president would be launching his very own social platform called TRUTH Social, they were overjoyed. Not only would TRUTH Social allow them to reconnect with Trump, who was banned from nearly all social media outlets in 2021 (his Twitter account has since been reinstated), but it would also allow them to voice their thoughts and concerns uncensored.

While TRUTH Social gained significant attention before and after it launched, sources suggest it has been underperforming and struggling to keep key employees. Is TRUTH Social going out of business?

There isn't any doubt that Trump Media & Technology Group’s (TMTG) Social app has encountered rocky terrain since launching on Feb. 24, 2022. Not only did Apple users face a lengthy waitlist after registering on the app, but Android users had to wait nearly eight months for it to arrive in the Google Play Store.

Then, in April 2022, two tech executives — Josh Adams and Billy Boozer, who played a vital role in bringing the app to life — quit, Reuters reported. After the source interviewed eight people familiar with TRUTH Social’s activities, all of which remained anonymous, it was clear the two resignations could “imperil the company’s progress.”

One of the individuals said that Adams was the “brains” behind the platform and with him being gone, “all bets are off.” Since their departures, TRUTH Social doesn't seem to be doing much better.

Creating and launching a social media platform that's capable of outperforming Twitter and Facebook is a difficult undertaking. Facebook currently has around 2.91 billion users, while Twitter is utilized by roughly 290.5 million people around the globe. Although Trump built lots of hype around TRUTH Social, sources say it isn’t doing very well since its launch.

As of April 3, 2023, TRUTH Social ranked #42 out of all the social media apps available in Apple’s App Store. When the app first launched, it had around 971,000 downloads. But as the months carried on, the numbers steadily declined.

By December 2022, TRUTH Social had only been downloaded roughly 64,000 times by Apple users and about 71,000 times by Android users, according to Statista data. Sources estimate TRUTH Social may have anywhere between 2 million–5 million active users.

Aside from being called a "flop," Trump’s social media platform was also placed at the center of a Saturday Night Live skit in 2022. During the skit, which played out as a Fox & Friends parody, Mikey Day, playing the role of co-host Brian Kilmeade, told his “colleagues” that TRUTH Social makes his phone “very, very hot.” He added, “like over 140 degrees.”

Trump's media company, TMTG was expected to merge with the SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp., some months ago, though the deal still hasn't been settled. While the two entities have been given until Sept. 8, 2023, to merge, The New York Times is suggesting they might "rush to complete the deal" now that Trump has been indicted.

While many are hopeful the deal will give TMTG a billion-dollar valuation, Forbes says the company may wind up where many of Trump's other companies now lie — "in the graveyard of failed Trump ventures."

When news of a SPAC deal first emerged, Trump's media company was valued at around $22 billion. Today, however, with shares trading at around $14, Forbes says it may only be worth $1.2 billion, that is, if it's able to maintain its user count and investor interest.