A REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT
Politics trumps business in Truth Social’s war on Big Tech
reuters.com
The firebrand former President Trump’s social media firm has struggled to build a competitive platform. One big reason: It has alienated the tech talent and corporate partners it needs in the left-leaning industry it has vilified.
By HELEN COSTER and JULIA LOVE Filed June 27, 2022, 5:30 p.m. GMT
"Social-media startup Truth Social has branded itself as the anti-Twitter and the exclusive home of former President Donald Trump. Its prospects, the firm’s financial backers have disclosed in public filings, depend on monetizing Trump supporters’ rage over alleged “Big Tech” censorship of the political right.
As it turns out, it’s hard to build a social network to take on Big Tech without the help of Big Tech. The Trump venture’s pugnacious political approach has hobbled the company’s development from its inception, a Reuters examination of the origins of the secretive enterprise has found."
Tidbits:
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) has struggled to develop its social media platform since its February 2021 founding because its managers have sought to avoid potential corporate partners and employees perceived as politically liberal in a Silicon Valley-based industry that skews left, said three people with knowledge of its operations. The feeling is mutual: Many engineers and tech firms won’t consider working with a Trump company, according to two of those people, two additional sources with knowledge of the venture and a May 16 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission by the investment company that plans to merge with TMTG, Digital World Acquisition Corp, or DWAC. The mutual aversion has severely restricted the pool of talent and corporate partners available to help TMTG build a competitive social network on an ambitious timeline.
Low Use:
As of June 1, the Truth Social app had been downloaded 2.8 million times, according to data analytics firm Sensor Tower. One venture capitalist called that figure “comically low” for a high-profile venture backed by a former U.S. president. Gene Munster, a managing partner at Minneapolis-based technology investment firm Loup, said he would have expected more like 25 million downloads given the heavy attention the project has drawn.
“Is it that the platform wasn’t working right? Is it that they aren’t getting their message out?” he asked. “I’m shocked … that’s low.”
Are workers worried any connection to Trump will hurt their careers?
Truth Social last summer started recruiting tech talent. Executives sought to find ideologically aligned staffers, in at least one case scanning candidates’ social media and listening to their appearances on podcasts, according to a person familiar with company operations. But the company struggled to woo skilled tech workers, regardless of their politics, according to three people with knowledge of the recruiting efforts. Dirty play?
Some prospective partners feared becoming targets for hackers, according to another person with knowledge of company operations. Fueling those fears, an early, unpublished version of the app was breached in October by hackers who created parody accounts, including a false “donaldjtrump” account with a photograph of a defecating pig. Lack of interest even from supporters?
The May 16 filing noted that surveys have shown only 30% of respondents – and only 60% of Republicans – would consider using a Trump-affiliated social media platform. “In order to be successful,” the filing noted, “TMTG will need millions of those people to register and regularly use TMTG’s platform.”
Long story reuters.com |
