Two of Truth Social’s top executives have already resigned from former President Donald Trump’s social media app, it was reported today.
The two who have left the building are Chief Technology Officer Josh Adams and head of product development Billy Boozer, both of whom may have been frustrated with what has been an awful start for the platform.
Trump had his cherished Twitter Inc. account deleted earlier in the year following the Jan. 6, 2021 chaos on Capitol Hill, and then he was also booted off Facebook Inc. He then promised that he’d be back with his own version of a social media app. He subsequently started a lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and Google LLC-owned YouTube, accusing those companies of the “illegal, shameful censorship of the American people.”
Trump talked about protecting the First Amendment, while at the same time saying he would introduce an alternative to those apps that wouldn’t have what he has maintained without proof is a bias against conservatives. Later in February, he made good on his promise and Truth Social became a reality.
However, things didn’t go smoothly. No sooner than the site was up than people were complaining that when they tried to sign up they kept getting an error message. Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman who heads the Trump Media & Technology Group, said at the time that things were indeed rocky but that by the end of March, the platform would be fully functional.
That doesn’t seem to have happened, with about 1.5 million people stuck on a waiting list and unable to use the site. It’s also not yet available on Android phones. “Nobody seems to know what’s going on,” someone familiar with the matter who wished not to be named told the BBC today.
Why the execs resigned is not clear, but it’s likely related to the problems. Trump himself has only posted one message the entire time the app has been live.
Still, it’s not as if Truth Social wouldn’t be popular if it actually worked. When it was introduced to the App Store, it rocketed to the most downloaded app spot. It was averaging 170,000 downloads a day at one point, with reports saying that number is now down to 8,000 a day.
“If Josh has left… all bets are off,” another person familiar with the matter told Reuters, explaining that Adams was the “brains” of the app, so these departures are serious. It remains to be seen if Truth Social ever becomes the giant of social media Trump has touted it to be.