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Donald Trump’s Social-Media Company Is in Big Trouble

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3 years ago

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Donald Trump wanted to disrupt the hegemony of the Silicon Valley giants. Things don’t seem to be going the way the former president wanted.

Donald Trump has never hidden his objective in launching Truth Social: to disrupt the hegemony of the giants of Silicon Valley.

The former president did not take well to what appeared to be a humiliation: He was ejected from the major social-media platforms that influence opinions and trends in public life.

One day after the events of Jan. 6, 2021 — when his supporters stormed the Congress in Washington — Facebook  (META) – Get Meta Platforms Inc. Report, YouTube  (GOOGL) – Get Alphabet Inc. Report and Twitter  (TWTR) – Get Twitter Inc. Report, the three main social networks in the U.S., banned him

The real estate developer, who has millions of loyal supporters and fans, then promised to launch his own social network as a place of free expression for conservatives and to continue to build the Trump brand.

When the platform launched in February, Truth Social drew flurry of downloads on Apple’s  (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. Report iOS app. It was rolled out to all U.S. iOS users in May. But the euphoria seems to have died down.

Not on Google Play

Truth Social has not yet been launched on Google’s Android operating system, which runs the vast majority of smartphones. That’s because Google says it violates its content moderation policy like physical threats and incitement to violence.

“On Aug. 19 we notified Truth Social of several violations of standard policies,” Google told the BBC. “Having effective systems for moderating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app to go live on Google Play,” the company added.

For its part, Trump Media & Technology Group, founded by the former president and the parent of Truth Social, said in a news release that “TMTG has continuously worked in good faith with Google to ensure that the Truth Social Android App complies with Google’s policies without compromising our promise to be a haven for free speech,

“As our users know, Truth Social is building a vibrant, family-friendly environment that works expeditiously to remove content that violates its Terms of Service – which independent observers have noted are among the most robust in the industry.”

“By contrast TMTG notes that this viral, four-year-old tweet threatening nuclear war on law-abiding citizens remains up on Twitter for Android without consequence,” the company added.

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from TheStreet.

Zero Revenue

Digital World Acquisition (DWAC) , the blank-check company that is supposed to merge with TMTG, is also in a fragile financial situation.

The firm reported a net loss of $6.2 million for the 2022 first half due to general and administrative costs, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. This loss was five times the year-earlier loss of $1.2 million.

The company is burning cash: It had $3 million on hand at the end of the period compared with $24.3 million at the end of first-half 2021. And in 2022 through the close of Wednesday trading, the shares were down 53%.

DWAC does not currently generate any revenue. But what is more worrying is that the firm must raise fresh money.

“We believe we will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business,” the firm said.

“Additionally, if our estimate of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating a business combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our business combination.”

Basically, DWAC says it may not have enough cash to continue operating before it closes its merger with TMTG.

“Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our business combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon consummation of our business combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such business combination.”

Legal Headaches

DWAC is also facing two SEC investigations looking at whether the company improperly negotiated with Truth Social before its IPO in 2021. The regulator issued subpoenas to the company and to TMTG, according to the SEC filing.

The firm said it’s “cooperating with an SEC investigation, including responding to several document requests and subpoenas from the SEC to us and certain of our directors seeking various documents and information regarding, among other things, meetings of our Board of Directors; communications with and the evaluation of potential targets, including TMTG; communications relating to TMTG; agreements with and payments made to certain advisors.”

Finally, Truth Social owes $1.6 million to one of its vendors, RightForge, an internet infrastructure company for conservatives, sources told Axios.

One of the sources told the news outlet that if Truth Social fails to come up with the cash to pay back RightForge, the dispute could move to arbitration.

Culled from The Street (By Luc Olinga)

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Bizarre Epstein files reference to Trump, Putin, and oral sex with ‘Bubba’ draws scrutiny in Congress

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2 weeks ago

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November 14, 2025

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The latest tranche of emails from the estate of late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein includes one that contains what appear to be references to President Donald Trump allegedly performing oral sex, raising questions the committee cannot answer until the Department of Justice turns over records it has withheld, says U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

Garcia insists the Trump White House is helping block them.

In a Friday afternoon interview with The Advocate, the out California lawmaker responded to a 2018 exchange, which was included in the emails released, between Jeffrey Epstein and his brother, Mark Epstein. In that message, Mark wrote that because Jeffrey Epstein had said he was with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, he should “ask him if Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba.”

“Bubba” is a nickname former President Bill Clinton has been known by; however, the email does not clarify who Mark Epstein meant, and the context remains unclear.

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USDA head says ‘everyone’ on SNAP will now have to reapply

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2 weeks ago

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November 14, 2025

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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Thursday said the Trump administration is planning to have all Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries reapply for the program due to alleged fraud.

The secretary said after receiving data on SNAP recipients from 29 red states that “186,000 deceased men and women and children in this country are receiving a check.”

“Can you imagine when we get our hands on the blue state data what we’re going to find?” she asked during a Thursday appearance on Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight.”

“It’s going to give us a platform and a trajectory to fundamentally rebuild this program, have everyone reapply for their benefit, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through SNAP or food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable, and they can’t survive without it,” she added.

Every state has a periodic recertification process that requires SNAP or food stamp recipients to update their whereabouts and earnings, according to the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Most municipalities require updated data every six to 12 months.

“Secretary Rollins wants to ensure the fraud, waste, and incessant abuse of SNAP ends,” a USDA spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill. “Rates of fraud were only previously assumed, and President Trump is doing something about it. Using standard recertification processes for households is a part of that work. As well as ongoing analysis of State data, further regulatory work, and improved collaboration with States. “

Earlier this month, food stamps were threatened amid the government shutdown as the Trump administration argued against using contingency funds to fuel the welfare program.

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Trump orders Bondi to investigate Epstein’s ties to Clinton and other political foes

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2 weeks ago

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November 14, 2025

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NEW YORK (AP) — Acceding to President Donald Trump’s demands, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Trump political foes, including former President Bill Clinton.

Bondi posted on X that she was assigning Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to lead the probe, capping an eventful week in which congressional Republicans released nearly 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate and House Democrats seized on emails mentioning Trump.

Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years, didn’t explain what supposed crimes he wanted the Justice Department to investigate. None of the men he mentioned in a social media post demanding the probe has been accused of sexual misconduct by any of Epstein’s victims.

Hours before Bondi’s announcement, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he would ask her, the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Clinton and others, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and LinkedIn founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman.

Trump, calling the matter “the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans,” said the investigation should also include financial giant JPMorgan Chase, which provided banking services to Epstein, and “many other people and institutions.”

“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” the Republican president wrote, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in Trump’s 2016 election victory over Bill Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Asked later Friday whether he should be ordering up such investigations, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I’m the chief law enforcement officer of the country. I’m allowed to do it.”

In a July memo regarding the Epstein investigation, the FBI said, “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

The president’s demand for an investigation — and Bondi’s quick acquiescence — is the latest example of the erosion of the Justice Department’s traditional independence from the White House since Trump took office.

It is also an extraordinary attempt at deflection. For decades, Trump himself has been scrutinized for his closeness to Epstein — though like the people he now wants investigated, he has not been accused of sexual misconduct by Epstein’s victims.

None of Trump’s proposed targets were accused of sex crimes

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