Trump launches his own social media platform

Trump launches his own social media platform, calling it TRUTH Social
Oct 21, 2021

Former US president Donald Trump announced his plans to launch his own social network TRUTH social. The announcement came after he was banned from Twitter and Facebook in the wake of the violent Capitol insurrection. TRUTH social will be owned by Trump Media & Technology Group.

Aww geeze, not this shit again... LoL

One would think he'd have learned from the dismal failure of a blog experiment that this isn't going to end well. People ought to have learned from the same failure (and the hyperbole leading up to it) Trump says a bunch of shit that just ain't so including he's going to "launch a social media platform".

What's it going to be this time... an email newsletter?

Odd that a news outlet from India was the one to report this "news".

I didn't see it reported anywhere else.

====

oo00OOps..I spoke too soon:

https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=TRUTH+Social

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-truth-social-hacked-within-hours-announcement-1641137


.

Vitriol wrote:

Aww geeze, not this shit again... LoL

One would think he'd have learned from the dismal failure of a blog experiment that this isn't going to end well. People ought to have learned from the same failure (and the hyperbole leading up to it) Trump says a bunch of shit that just ain't so including he's going to "launch a social media platform".

What's it going to be this time... an email newsletter?

Liar

Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote:

Liar

Who Trump, or Vitriol???

The Wise And Powerful wrote:

Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote:

Liar

Who Trump, or Vitriol???

Maybe it was referring to the part where I asked if this was going to be an email newsletter, which apparently it isn't. I guess it just failed to notice the question mark at the end.

SO it's gonna be an app...
Coded by ???

Cuz we all know Don can't code.
The boy can't even read very well and barely manages to make sense when he talks half the time.

Whenever you see Don bragging that he did this or he's going to do that please remember what he actually means is that he's paying someone (if they're lucky) to do a thing for him and then he'll slap his ridiculous name on it.

If all you know about this app is that "Don did it" you don't actually know anything at all about the damn thing.

lulz

Arnold ain't the one to worry about who does what with coding. Hell, it took him years to figure out how to upload a video from his cell phone to YouTube. He used to email them to me, and I'd drop them onto my own channel and send him the links to use wherever.

One thing he does know about, is how to drink margaritas before breakfast.

Trump's social media deal ignites 350% gain in SPAC's shares
By Medha Singh and Sinéad Carew, Oct 21 (Reuters)

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's deal to create a social media app after Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and Facebook Inc (FB.O) barred him won an exuberant endorsement from investors, with shares in a shell company backing the plan closing up more than 350% on Thursday after rising more than 400% earlier in the day.

Trump Media and Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC.O), , a Special Purpose Acquisition Vehicle (SPAC), announced on Wednesday they would merge to create a social media app called TRUTH Social. Trump's company said it plans a beta launch - unveiling a trial version - next month and a full roll-out in the first quarter of 2022.

SPACs use money raised through an initial public offering to take a private company public. This deal's announcement lacked the trappings of the detailed business plans Wall Street is accustomed to in SPAC mergers, from naming a leadership team to giving detailed financing earnings and projections.

Even so, shares of Miami-based Digital World closed up 356.8% at $45.50 a share on Nasdaq after soaring more than 400% earlier in the session. At the closing price, its market capitalization stood at $1.47 billion, up from $321 million on Wednesday.

With volume of more than 477 million shares, it was the most actively traded stock on the exchange, drawing chatter on forums such as Reddit, where retail investors have driven so-called meme stocks to values not supported by mainstream financial analysis. On Twitter and Stocktwits, some users cheered the rally with posts displaying rocket ships and GIFs of Trump.

The venture may provide the first real test of the power of right-wing social media with the full force of Trump's support. Questions remain about how it plans to make money and avoid the same issues that led major social media platforms to banish him.

Some investors marveled at the rally and wondered whether the gains would last.

"I have never seen anything like this, such share reaction based on hopes and dreams," Kristi Marvin, a former investment banker who founded research firm SPACInsider, told other investors on a Twitter Spaces discussion.

Others said the market reaction reflected support for Trump as well as a bet that a platform with him would draw followers.

"Up to this point there hasn't been a publicly traded vehicle for those that support the former president," said Jake Dollarhide, co-founder of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Stamford, Connecticut, said not just Trump supporters but also opponents, media and investors would want to get on the platform to keep track of what Trump says.

Still, its future is far from certain. Digital World, led by former investment banker Patrick Orlando, has launched at least four SPACs and plans to launch two more but none of them have completed a deal yet. Orlando did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

DIRECT AND UNFILTERED

People close to the Republican former president, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said Trump has sought to set up his own social media company since leaving the White House. Trump, contemplating another White House run in 2024, has been frustrated that he does not have a direct and unfiltered connection with his millions of followers after Twitter and Facebook barred him, these people said.

Social media giants suspended Trump's accounts after his supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 following an incendiary speech he gave repeating false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud.

Twitter found that Trump posts violated its "glorification of violence" policy. Facebook found that Trump praised violence in connection with the deadly attack in which rioters sought to block the formal congressional certification of his election loss to President Joe Biden.

In a press release announcing the deal, Trump said, "I'm excited to soon begin sharing my thoughts on TRUTH Social and to fight back against Big Tech."

Facebook shares were up 0.3%. Twitter (TWTR.N) shares were down 0.6%.

Trump Media said it would receive $293 million in cash that Digital World Acquisition had in a trust if no shareholder of the acquisition firm chooses to cash in their shares.

The soaring share price could increase the likelihood of a deal closing. Investors in the SPAC must eventually choose whether to redeem their shares at the IPO price of $10 per share, which is now much lower than the level at which what many would have bought.

Attempts to float alternatives to Twitter and Facebook have faltered in the past. Parler, a social media app backed by prominent Republican Party donor Rebekah Mercer and popular with U.S. conservatives, had several tech companies cut ties with it after the Jan. 6 riot.

GETTR, a Twitter-style platform started by former Trump adviser Jason Miller, claimed more than 1.5 million users in its first 11 days after being launched in July. Miller was unable to get Trump to join the platform.

Trump deal delivers $420 million windfall for dealmaker
Anirban Sen and Jessica DiNapoli, Reuters
Thu, October 21, 2021, 5:30 PM

(Reuters) -A merger with former U.S. President Donald Trump's new social media venture has delivered a potential windfall of $420 million for a former finance executive who has been trying for a decade to reinvent himself as a serial dealmaker.

Benessere Capital CEO Patrick Orlando's stake in Digital World Acquisition Corp, the Miami-based blank-check acquisition firm he is leading, was worth $423 million on Thursday after his deal to merge with Trump Media and Technology Group was announced, according to a regulatory filing and Reuters calculations.

Orlando invested only $3 million in Digital World, and is set to receive the windfall because the deal entitles him to additional compensation in shares as sponsor of the firm, the filing shows. Digital World shares ended trading on Wednesday up 357% after the deal was announced, giving the firm a market value of close to $1.5 billion.

To be sure, these gains are on paper. The terms of the SPAC do not allow Orlando to cash out until six months after the merger has been completed.

It is nonetheless a remarkable reversal of fortune for the former Deutsche Bank AG derivatives banker who worked in Peru's biofuel industry and for a U.S. sugar trading company before trying his hand at special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs).

He launched Benessere in 2012 to advise other companies on their deals but it was not until last year that he launched four SPACs with the help of Shanghai-based investment bank ARC Capital.

He struggled to gain traction. One of his SPACs, which was based in Wuhan, China, failed last month to complete a merger with Giga Energy Inc that would have valued the transportation solutions provider at $7.3 billion, because it could not deliver the cash required, according to regulatory filings.

Orlando did not respond to requests for comment.

Trump Media said it would receive $293 million in cash that Digital World had in a trust if no shareholder of the acquisition firm chose to cash in their shares.

The company said it planned a trial version of its social media app next month and a full roll-out in the first quarter of 2022.

Okay so Don's in bed (again) with a vulture capitalist -no surprise there- to fund his little vanity project but it still doesn't answer the question of who exactly is coding this thing?

I couldn't care less about predatory capitalists doing a predatory capitalist thing what I want to know is who's literally building and maintaining the app?

Yeah good okay, but even allowing for the moment the code was "borrowed" from Mastodon I *still* don't know who did it. Don didn't. That's the only thing of which I'm sure as far as the app's structural development is concerned.

Setting aside all other considerations I still wouldn't use an app whose authors are secret. That doesn't even have anything to do with whether or not I trust Don because he's one of the people I know for a fact didn't have a hand in writing/adapting any of the code.

One of the reasons I support Panquake is because I can and do Follow the individuals in the development team on Twitter etc. They have names and faces.

The people who are ACTUALLY behind the development of Trump's app are unknowns. Not even the web site has any links to the development team members or their company. To me that's beyond suspicious... why all the "pay no attention to the coders behind the curtains" nonsense?

Okay if the app was partly/largely/entirely copy&pasted from the Mastodon source code I could understand not bragging about your techies, but not mentioning them at all? Sus. Very sus.

Mastodon. Right.
Got it.

...but who adapted the Mastodon code, presuming that's what is actually happening with Don's app? Who's housing/controlling the servers? I'm guessing Don's app will have some kind of tech support available so who are they? Where are they based?

Inquiring minds wanna know.

Dunno, Vit - but it's prolly safe to say that tech support won't be based in China, Russia, North Korea, nor Iran.

Don't be too sure.
The guy Don's partnered with in this venture had/has ties to vulture capital activity in Wuhan.

Yes, that Wuhan. LoL

Vitriol wrote:

Don't be too sure.
The guy Don's partnered with in this venture had/has ties to vulture capital activity in Wuhan.

Yes, that Wuhan. LoL

<insert bat shit crazy joke here>

Key Investor Bails After Learning He's In New Trump Company: 'Not A Close Call'
Ed Mazza, HuffPost
Fri, October 22, 2021, 1:38 AM

Donald Trump’s proposed social media company came as news to some of its investors ― and at least one pulled out when he learned his money was now tied to the former president.

“Many investors are grappling with hard questions about how to incorporate their values into their work,” hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein told The New York Times in a statement. “For us, this was not a close call.”

The newspaper said Weinstein’s Saba Capital had been a major investor in Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, formed for the purpose of acquiring another company.

As is common in SPAC arrangements, investors put their cash in before the acquisition target was chosen. When Weinstein learned it would be with Trump’s firm, he bailed.

Trump announced the new company this week, saying it would launch a right-wing rival to Twitter called Truth Social. Shares in the company more than tripled on Thursday, the day after the deal was announced.

One unnamed investor who held 10% of the company told the Financial Times he sold everything as soon as he could.

“The idea that I would help [Trump] build out a fake news business called Truth makes me want to throw up,” he said.

It’s not clear if that investor was Weinstein.

Another large investor seemed much happier with the deal.

“When you partner with the right sponsor teams that have a clear vision on their targets, good things can happen quickly,” David Puritz of Shaolin Capital Management told the Financial Times.

Reuters noted the company was founded by Patrick Orlando, who has formed at least four other SPACs and has plans for two more, but so far none have led to a completed deal.

Vitriol wrote:

Mastodon. Right.
Got it.

...but who adapted the Mastodon code, presuming that's what is actually happening with Don's app? Who's housing/controlling the servers? I'm guessing Don's app will have some kind of tech support available so who are they? Where are they based?

Inquiring minds wanna know.

Trump social network given 30 days to stop breaking software license
Nihal Krishan
Fri, October 22, 2021, 2:49 PM

Former President Donald Trump's new social media platform, TRUTH Social, has been given 30 days to comply with the software's terms of license before its access is terminated. If it fails to comply, the platform may face legal action or have to rebuild from scratch.

Trump Media and Technology Group, a new company started by the former president, announced Wednesday it would soon launch TRUTH Social, a new platform aiming to "stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech." The site is being built with the open-source software Mastodon.

The Software Freedom Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that provides support and legal services for open-source software, said Friday that while anyone can use Mastodon's code for free to build online platforms, they must comply with its license that requires offering the user's own source code, which TRUTH Social has not done.

TRUTH Social refers to its platform and software code as "proprietary." Unless it changes its approach and opens up its code for users to view within 30 days, the platform can no longer use the Mastodon software it has been built upon.

“The license purposefully treats everyone equally (even people we don’t like or agree with), but they must operate under the same rules of the copyleft licenses that apply to everyone else,” Bradley Kuhn, policy fellow and hacker-in-residence at Software Freedom Conservancy, wrote in a blog post. “Today, we saw the Trump Media and Technology Group ignoring those important rules — which were designed for the social good.”

Although TRUTH Social hasn't launched yet — it is requiring users to join a waitlist — users on Thursday managed to access a trial version of the platform to create prank accounts and fake announcements, including grotesque posts from a fake Donald Trump account.

If TRUTH Social does not open up its source code for users to access within the next 30 days and continues to use the Mastodon software, the conservancy would have grounds to sue the Trump Media and Technology Group for violating the terms of the software license.

“We will be following this issue very closely and demanding that Trump’s Group give the corresponding source to all who use the site,” Kuhn wrote.

Trump is banned from almost every major social media platform — including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit — because of his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. As a result, he has been eager to return to social media after struggling to get his message out to the public for the past few months.

"We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced. This is unacceptable," Trump said earlier this week. "I am excited to send out my first TRUTH on TRUTH Social very soon. TMTG was founded with a mission to give a voice to all."

I hope I wasn't the one who gave Don the idea to crib his app from Mastodon code... back when he was talking about a "social media platform" that turned out to be a non-interactive blog I recall musing out loud that he might be doing that very thing: launching a Mastodon-based platform.

Perhaps I should have mentioned at the time that he wouldn't be able to do his usual trick of taking something built by others and slapping his name on it? Might have saved him all this confusion and hassle.

lulz

Trump’s Tech SPAC Could Make Him Billions With Meme-Stock Frenzy
Sophie Alexander, Tom Maloney and Crystal Kim, Bloomberg
Sat, October 23, 2021, 6:15 AM·5 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s sagging fortune is suddenly poised to get a massive boost from meme-stock mania.

News late Wednesday that the former president’s nascent media enterprise, Trump Media & Technology Group, is planning to go public via a special purpose acquisition company has sent retail investors into a frenzy, even with few details released. The stock gain drove the implied value of the new venture to more than $8.2 billion.

Based on figures from press releases and filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission, it appears Trump will own more than 50% of the combined company. At its current value, that would make him the richest he’s ever been, up from his estimated net worth now of $2.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

In the roller-coaster world of Reddit-fueled trading and grandiose SPAC hype, those gains are hardly firm. But the money betting on a Trump media conglomerate marks a sharp turnaround for a post-presidency that hasn’t been kind to the billionaire’s business empire.

His Washington hotel, which was first put on the market in 2019, is still for sale, while the flagship midtown Manhattan tower that bears his name has growing vacancies. This summer, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization was charged with tax fraud. Trump’s net worth has declined by about $500 million since he entered the White House, with the pandemic and fallout from January’s Capitol riot delivering added blows to his business interests.

Now comes the arrival of the social-media outlet that Trump, the leader in polls for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, has been teasing at for some time. There are many reasons to be skeptical of the valuation. It will be months before the new venture publicly releases its first product, a social-media platform called Truth Social. And there are already technical issues. On Thursday, the Truth Social page was hacked to make it appear that Trump shared a photo of a defecating pig.

It’s also unclear how Trump plans to build a social-media platform on the scale of Twitter over the next few months, let alone a streaming service, which is the next phase of Trump Media’s plans, according to the press release announcing the company. That statement was light on numbers even by SPAC standards.

“We have no financials. We have no business plan. We don’t know how they got to the valuation. We have no information,” said Kristi Marvin, chief executive of research firm SPAC Insider. “That’s the fundamental problem.”

Representatives for Trump and Trump Media didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The business has ambitious plans that also include a potential “tech stack” to compete with Amazon.com Inc.’s AWS and Google’s Cloud, among others, according to a presentation on Trump Media’s website. As of now, Digital World’s board is light on members with media experience. Its chief executive officer, Patrick Orlando, is a former Deutsche Bank AG derivatives trader who co-founded a sugar-trading company and started a banking firm, Benessere Capital, before more recently embracing SPACs.

So far, retail investors have little concern. Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp., the shell company merging with Trump’s new venture to take it public, closed Friday at $94.20 -- up from $9.96 before the deal was announced Wednesday. It’s also an increase of more than 800% from a $10 offering price that’s typically used in a SPAC merger agreement.

The press release said the new company would have an initial enterprise value of $875 million. Assuming that calculation used a $10 a share offering price and the $293 million Digital World has in trust, the SPAC’s owners will get about 42% of the combined company after accounting for shares the sponsor receives if a deal gets done.

That leaves 58% for Trump and any partners he has in Trump Media. That stake is worth nearly $4.8 billion, based on Digital World’s last price. The whole enterprise is being valued by the market at about $8.2 billion, compared with Twitter Inc.’s almost $50 billion equity valuation.

With the new media company’s valuation dwarfing the $875 million enterprise value agreed to by Trump, he may have been able to negotiate a sweeter deal. Terms of the agreement will need to be more fully disclosed and could still change before an agreement gets voted on by shareholders, an event that is probably months away.

Business Strains

Most of Trump’s current wealth is tied to the Trump Organization, a sprawling real estate business that has been hurt by the pandemic and legal troubles. There’s also at least $590 million in debt coming due in the next four years linked to the company’s properties, more than half of which is personally guaranteed by Trump.

In April, the company scored a win when its partner in two skycrapers, Vornado Realty Trust, refinanced debt tied to its San Francisco tower, bringing $617 million to its owners. The Trump Organization also appears to be closing in on a sale of Washington’s Trump International Hotel, which was a hotspot for political allies, lobbyists and conservative media figures during his administration.

“We are one of the most under-leveraged real estate companies in the country relative to our assets,” Trump’s son Eric Trump said at the time of the Vornado deal. On paper, he and his brother Donald Trump Jr. have been leading the Trump Organization. Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg stepped down from his various roles after his indictment. The company was also charged with 15 felony counts in New York.

Trump hasn’t signaled that he’ll return to the Trump Organization. His focus now is on dominating the Republican party and his new media project, which would give him an avenue to connect with supporters and raise money after he was banned from Facebook and Twitter. That would be key if he chooses to seek a second term in 2024.

When Trump first ran for president, he claimed to have a fortune of $10 billion. Now the retail trading frenzy may bring him somewhat closer to getting there.