The blank check firms that ensured Donald Trump’s media venture went public found their shares sinking. The daily downloads of the social media app owned by the former President declined by about 95% after it was launched a month ago.
Downloads sink to 8000 per day
Digital World Acquisition Corp., a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) that merged with Trump Media & Technology Group, has its market value declined by 31 % after it peaked in February when the Truth Social app was launched on Apple’s app store.
After the initial boom of 170,000 downloads daily, it has now tricked down to 8000 per day, according to data from Apptopia, a research firm. Apple devices averaged approximately 513000 active users per day last week, according to the data estimates shared with Bloomberg News by Apptopia.
The figure given by Appotopia may not be accurate as thousands of users have downloaded the Truth Social App on their devices and can easily open the app. However, they cannot use it as they are on the waiting list without access to all its functions. The Truth Social app is not available to android users as yet. This group can bring in millions of additional downloads due to its sheer user volume.
Other sites connected to people like Wizz and Yubo have daily iOS U.S. user metrics similar to Social Truth app. In contrast, another app Parler has 20,000-25000 daily iOS users as per data from Apptopia. Trump’s plans for a tech and media empire include the Truth Social app and sees itself as an alternative to social media platform Twitter.
Representatives for Digital World and Trump Media Group did not respond to emails sent by Bloomberg News asking for comments.
Despite users’ problems when the app was launched, the SPAC rallied 10% upside to touch a four-month high. Users were told not to sign up as others were receiving error messages at debut.
After the debut, the shares rose by nearly 550% amid heavy buying by retail investors, though there were few details available to them about the operation plans of Donald Trump. The latest project for the company is that it will be a social network, streaming services, news channels, and finally, a cloud computing platform.
