Possible damage to Trump popularity could hurt Truth Social, firm warns

Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), which formed to merge with the parent company of former President Trump’s social media platform Truth Social, expressed concern in a Monday security filing that a decline in Trump’s popularity could negatively impact the business.

In the Securities and Exchange Commission filing, DWAC said the success of Truth Social hinges on the “reputation and popularity” of Trump, the chairman of Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), which owns and operates the social media platform.

“In order to be successful, TMTG will need millions of those people to register and regularly use TMTG’s platform,” the filing reads. “If President Trump becomes less popular or there are further controversies that damage his credibility or the desire of people to use a platform associated with him … [the merger] could be adversely affected.”

CNBC first reported the news.

DWAC is a special acquisition group formed to raise capital and merge with TMTG, a media and technology company established by Trump last year.

Monday’s security filing sets a special shareholder meeting on Sept. 6 to discuss the extension of a Sept. 8 deadline on completing the merger with TMTG.

If an extension is not approved, DWAC will dissolve. The firm is looking to extend the merger deadline to Sept. 8, 2023.

Trump faces multiple investigations, including the Aug. 9 FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in connection to an investigation into his possession of classified documents.

The DWAC filing warns of a potential financial impact on the company if he were to decline in popularity amid his political and legal woes.

The firm cited a poll from The Hill last year that showed only one-third of voters would use a social media platform backed by Trump, and it shared separate data indicating that only 60 percent of Republicans are interested in such a social media site.

Trump created Truth Social after he was banned from Twitter following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, with the former president promising to create a social media platform centered on free speech.

The app went live over the winter and Trump wrote his first post in February. Truth Social originally launched with a rocky start, with users waiting in backlogs to create and use an account.

The social media platform now has somewhere around 4 million users based on Trump’s follower count, although its rival, Twitter, has more than 300 million users.

After the FBI raid on his home, Truth Social was downloaded more than 88,000 times, according to The Washington Times.