In October 2021, former United States President Donald Trump and Trump Media & Technology Group founded their ‘alt-tech social media platform’ named ‘Truth Social’. Analysts saw this move as the former President’s move to create a digital discussion space which will entertain open, free, and honest global conversation “without discriminating based on political ideology”.
While this article won’t discuss much about Trump’s political views and whether ‘Truth Social’ is an expression of those ideas, it will talk about a possible endgame that the social media platform is facing right now.
As ‘Truth Social’ witnessed its launch in 2022, backers of the social media network described it as a conservative-friendly alternative to Big Tech platforms. So basically, in the name of having a free, open and honest discussion on the ‘Truth Social’, the platform wanted to entertain the rightist view of seeing things.
While the Trump Media & Technology Group thought that their innovation would attract advertisers further, given the fact that Trump possesses a strong presence on social media, a regulatory filing in November 2023 revealed that Truth Social’s parent venture has booked only $2.3 million in sales through June, while losing 10 times that amount.
How bad is the situation?
As per CBS News, which is reporting on the matter, “The disclosure also contains a warning from Trump Media & Technology Group’s accountants, who said they have substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
The latest financial details have been made public by Digital World Acquisition Corporation (DWAC), which is a so-called Special-Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). The SPAC has been established to merge with Trump’s business. It will help the venture SPACs allow a company to sell shares to the public more quickly than in a traditional initial public offering, which requires more regulatory steps.
The filing marks “a crucial milestone in our journey towards the potential merger with TMTG,” DWAC CEO Eric Swider said in November 2023.
CBS News continued further, “The cautionary language by Trump Media’s accountants is known as a going concern warning, which indicates that an accounting firm believes a company may not have sufficient cash on hand to pay its debts and could default within the next year, according to S&P Global.”
“To be sure, the warning reflects only a snapshot in time, and it’s possible Trump Media’s pending deal with DWAC could provide the funding that the merged company needs to make good on its obligations and help drive growth,” it added further.
The market filing also stated that Trump, who is heading the Trump Media and owns a stake in the business, had agreed to post on Truth Social before any other competing social media service.
However, things are getting out of hand, as Trump’s media venture is facing mounting losses. Trump Media’s reported revenue, for example, in the first six months of 2023, stood at $2.3 million, compared with no revenue in the year-earlier period.
Trump Media ended June 2023 with $2.4 million in cash, down from $19 million in 2022. The company reported an operating loss of $23.3 million in 2022, although it saw a $50.5 million net profit after a change in value tied to its convertible notes.
“Trump Media is negotiating its debts with lenders, and the filing includes a warning that its management has concerns about its ability to pay for the company’s liabilities and to meet its obligations to lenders,” CBS stated further.
More destructive moves
However, it seems that Truth Social’s backers are in denial mode. Trump Media & Technology Group Corporation now wants $1.5 billion in damages from news organisations which “erroneously reported” that the social media platform had lost $73 million.
The venture believes that the loss figure is “an utter fabrication” and has accused 20 news outlets of a “deliberate, malicious, and coordinated attack” against Truth Social.
The company claims that the “false reporting” was part of a “seemingly coordinated effort to destroy TMTG and Truth Social”.
“This number was an utter fabrication. Each defendant, in apparent coordination, reported the same false number within approximately 24 hours of one another, each citing a public Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, in which the mystery $73 million loss appears nowhere,” Trump Media & Technology Group said in its lawsuit.
Trump, in the final week of November 2023, spent some 24 hours on Truth Social unleashing a barrage of grievances, vengeful promises and links to online conspiracy theories about his political rivals.
From Obamacare writer E. Jean Carroll to GOP rival Nikki Haley, Trump spared no one in his rants. And surely, that doesn’t speak well for him and most importantly, for the chances of ‘Truth Social’ returning to the path of steady profitability.
Another conspiracy?
As per the reports, a group of cartoon dogs (not the creature created by Trevor Henderson) known for mocking Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine has infiltrated the Truth Social, with the purported goal of bringing down the portal before the 2024 United States Presidential Elections.
The activist group, named The North Atlantic Fella Organisation (NAFO), is known for combatting pro-Russia propaganda related to the Ukraine war. As 2024 nears, the group has now turned its attention to Trump’s social network, by launching a campaign to take over the trending topics section on the website.
The group says that the operation, which included 50 “NAFO commandos,” is targeting the Truth Social in a successful campaign, which now has a long-term goal of taking down the social media platform completely.
During an interaction with Wired, Rock Kenwell, the pseudonymous leader of the NAFO commandos, said, “The goal we have in mind, which is lofty, is to help bring the platform down ahead of the 2024 election. We know it’s going to be an aggregator for extremism and probably violence the way things are looking at this point.”
Describing the Truth Social platform’s current environment, Kenwell compared the challenge of combating the spread of pro-Trump messaging on the platform with “dealing with your racist uncle that nobody wants at the Thanksgiving dinner table because he’s just obnoxious and looking to fight with everybody.”
Truth Social was launched in 2022 by Trump, who, in his maverick way of passing sweeping statements, attacked the mainstream social media platforms. As per Trump, “Big Tech Platforms” like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were not entertaining free speech, something which Truth Social would do. However, the reality has been a different one. Since the 18 months of its inception, the site has failed to attract anyone outside of Trump supporters and QAnon conspiracy groups. And then add the mounting losses.
“It’s a very easy platform to manipulate. It’s a very primitive, social media environment,” adds Kenwell, who, along with other members of NAFO, posts anonymously to avoid blowback from the individuals/groups they are targeting. They also represent themselves online by using Shiba Inu, a Japanese breed dog that became a popular internet meme in 2013.
While most of NAFO’s activity takes place on X, the website formerly Twitter, Kenwell had considered targeting Truth Social after he was inspired in part by a campaign earlier this year run by three friends—including the founder of the Birds Aren’t Real satirical conspiracy movement—who managed to get the #DeSantis2024 hashtag trending on Truth Social before it suddenly shut down.
Joe Biden’s campaign team too joined Truth Social in October 2023 and briefly surged past the Trump campaign account’s follower count.
On October 31, Kenwell launched his campaign to try and take over the trending topics section on Truth Social by using anti-MAGA (Make America Great Again) hashtags.
“Just 50 members were involved in the initial wave, but they successfully got hashtags that could be misinterpreted as pro-MAGA onto the trending list, including misspelt phrases like #StollenElection or #ErectionFraud. This goal was achieved in a matter of hours, according to screenshots shared with WIRED of the platform’s trending topics,” Kenwell noted.
In the space of 10 days, the Commandos posted over 8,200 “Truths” containing their anti-Trump hashtags.
“These guys are way easier to trigger than the Russian spambots over on Twitter,” wrote NAFO member Pinkeye McGrew in a private Truth Social group hours after the operation began.
The campaign was reportedly carried out in this private group, with the members sharing (or “reTruthing”) each other’s posts to make it look like there were a lot more people involved. Yes, the process wasn’t an organic one, but it got its desired results, even after the hashtags were removed from the trending list.
“We made Truth Social take down new app downloads from the app store. We made them shut off new account registration just after our campaign began,” Kenwell commented further.
Truth Social became unavailable on the app store, and new sign-in registrations got closed down too, as per Kenwell’s claims.
“The success of the campaign did, however, entice around 200 NAFO members to sign up for future anti-Truth Social campaigns,” Kenwell remarked further.
NAFO’s plan ahead
NAFO is planning to spread further pro-Ukraine content on the Truth Social. As per Kenwell’s words, “The thing is to get the word out in that environment about the realities of what’s happening in Ukraine because, it being a MAGA environment, they are pro-Russia, they’re very anti-Ukraine.”
The group will also aim the advertisers who have decided to pay Trump to sell gold, alternative medicine, and Trump merchandise on his platform.
Kenwell says he has a database of around 50 Truth Social ads queued up and ready to be faked and deployed at once.
“So, suddenly, it’s just a glut of fake ads. It’s really easy to fake ads on Truth Social. If we can take any ad and get a couple of thousand false versions of that ad running, nobody can identify what is the original ad anymore and what’s fake,” he remarked further.
On X, Kenwell has detailed everything about the activist group and how new members could join in a thread he called the ‘NAFO Commandos Quick Start Guide’.
Despite a few of the NAFO accounts being taken down, including a spoof Russian Embassy account, Kenwell is unperturbed, when it comes to plotting and executing Truth Social’s downfall.
Will NAFO succeed? Let’s wait for the answer.