Former President Donald Trump announced Wednesday night that he’s created a new publicly-traded company called the Trump Media and Technology Group and its first product will be a competitor to Twitter named Truth Social:
Former President Trump will be launching a new social network named "TRUTH Social."
It will be a part of a new publicly-traded company named "Trump Media and Technology Group." pic.twitter.com/Tso6HMGGPS
— Aaron Parseghian (@AaronParseghian) October 21, 2021
The *key* here is that it’s a publicly-traded company with cash on hand:
Key here is as much about the social media possibilities as Trump connecting to an existing nasdaq company/getting a cash infusion https://t.co/QFYp3hO448
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 21, 2021
And the underlying public company he’s merging into is backed by some pretty heavy-hitters:
The backers of the company that is supporting the Trump venture are some elite Wall Street hedge funds – including DE Shaw and Highbridge. More to come @nytimes https://t.co/0qYa8U7V0f
— David Enrich (@davidenrich) October 21, 2021
Patrick Orlando, the guy running the underlying public company, is an ex-executive of Deutsche Bank:
And the guy who runs the special-purpose acquisition company, Patrick Orlando, used to work at….@DeutscheBank.
— David Enrich (@davidenrich) October 21, 2021
But Trump is already facing the threat of a lawsuit from Eugen Rochko, the founder of open-source social media platform Mastodon:
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Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko told TPM in an email that TRUTH appeared to violate the terms of use that the software sets forth: making the source code available, and having a copy of the general product license available to users.https://t.co/Qp0uil5810 via @TPM
— David Kurtz (@TPM_dk) October 21, 2021
“I do intend to seek legal counsel on the situation though,” he told Talking Points Memo:
“I do intend to seek legal counsel on the situation though,” Rochko told TPM, while declining to discuss any specific legal action he may be contemplating.
— David Kurtz (@TPM_dk) October 21, 2021
After Trump’s announcement last night, many on Twitter discovered the URL to sign up for the service. This journo from the Daily Dot even created an account for @DonaldTrump:
Was just able to setup an account using the handle @donaldtrump on 'Truth Social,' former President Donald Trump's new social media website.
Although the site is not officially open, a URL was discovered allowing users to sign up anyway. pic.twitter.com/MRMQzjNhma
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) October 21, 2021
WaPo tech reporter Drew Harwell created an account for @mikepence:
Anyone can create an account on Trump's social network TRUTH Social using a publicly available link. I literally just registered "mikepence." The site hasn't even launched yet and it's already this vulnerable pic.twitter.com/v9nPN8ibDS
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) October 21, 2021
Both those fake accounts were quickly shut down:
For those asking, the public domain for what appeared to be the mobile beta of Trump's new social media platform 'TRUTH Social' has been taken offline.
I did manage to grab a screenshot of the Account Settings menu before access was blocked. pic.twitter.com/M8G3PE0JES
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) October 21, 2021
A hush falls upon TRUTH Social. pic.twitter.com/HSKMTMlEMU
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) October 21, 2021
You can pre-order Truth Social in the Apple app store:
Love the example mock-ups from President Trump's TRUTH social media app. Just a couple guys talking about cars and Jamaica. pic.twitter.com/aIhdfpR69D
— Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) October 21, 2021
And LOL at the fake account for “@Jack,” who on Twitter is, of course, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey:
Lol from Truth Social in the App Store pic.twitter.com/mmRzMU5rRs
— Greg Pollowitz (@GPollowitz) October 21, 2021
Here’s “@jack” demanding that one of his employees, named “@jane,” censor an account and take down the posts:
Better content moderation pic.twitter.com/3ZcyybLAfU
— Ruby Cramer (@rubycramer) October 21, 2021
If you’re interested, you can view the slide deck here (stock symbol for the underlying public company is DWAC”:
$DWAC / Trump Media presentation linked.https://t.co/pzzAx1KI4o
— SPACInsider (@spac_insider) October 21, 2021
And notice the little orange media company at the bottom of the slide on the top left?
checking out the “trump media and technology group” pitch deck pic.twitter.com/1ZjC6jmZka
— William Turton (@WilliamTurton) October 21, 2021
Yes, Mr. President. We *will* be there for this:
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