<p>Signs are growing that Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social is in financial trouble, with just a modest following six months after launching.</p>.<p><em>Fox Business Network</em> reported Thursday that the platform has halted payments to the company that hosts it, RightForge, and owes $1.6 million.</p>.<p>Neither the platform's parent company Trump Media and Technology Group nor RightForge answered <em>AFP</em> requests for comment.</p>.<p>Meanwhile the parent company's merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp -- a blank check company formed specifically to carry out a merger -- has yet to take place, 10 months after the announcement that it would happen. This fusion is supposed to bring in fresh funding for the Trump platform.</p>.<p>DWAC published Thursday a call for a special shareholders meeting September 6 at which investors will be asked to approve a one-year delay for carrying out the merger, until Sept 8 of 2023.</p>.<p>Without a favourable vote for an extension, the blank check company said it will be forced to dissolve.</p>.<p>Financial data published Thursday said that as of late June, DWAC had only $3,000 in cash on hand.</p>.<p>Truth Social bills itself as Trump's answer to platforms like Twitter, which the former president used as a loud political bullhorn until he was ejected from it after a mob he had egged on assaulted the US Capitol in January 2021.</p>.<p>But six months later it is in 30th place in an Apple ranking of social media apps downloaded onto iPhones.</p>.<p>The Statista data base says Truth Social is downloaded only around 50,000 times per week.</p>.<p>Trump's account on Truth Social has 3.91 million followers; on Twitter he had 79.5 million when he was booted.</p>.<p>Shares in DWAC have fallen 71 per cent since hitting their peak in early March.</p>
<p>Signs are growing that Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social is in financial trouble, with just a modest following six months after launching.</p>.<p><em>Fox Business Network</em> reported Thursday that the platform has halted payments to the company that hosts it, RightForge, and owes $1.6 million.</p>.<p>Neither the platform's parent company Trump Media and Technology Group nor RightForge answered <em>AFP</em> requests for comment.</p>.<p>Meanwhile the parent company's merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp -- a blank check company formed specifically to carry out a merger -- has yet to take place, 10 months after the announcement that it would happen. This fusion is supposed to bring in fresh funding for the Trump platform.</p>.<p>DWAC published Thursday a call for a special shareholders meeting September 6 at which investors will be asked to approve a one-year delay for carrying out the merger, until Sept 8 of 2023.</p>.<p>Without a favourable vote for an extension, the blank check company said it will be forced to dissolve.</p>.<p>Financial data published Thursday said that as of late June, DWAC had only $3,000 in cash on hand.</p>.<p>Truth Social bills itself as Trump's answer to platforms like Twitter, which the former president used as a loud political bullhorn until he was ejected from it after a mob he had egged on assaulted the US Capitol in January 2021.</p>.<p>But six months later it is in 30th place in an Apple ranking of social media apps downloaded onto iPhones.</p>.<p>The Statista data base says Truth Social is downloaded only around 50,000 times per week.</p>.<p>Trump's account on Truth Social has 3.91 million followers; on Twitter he had 79.5 million when he was booted.</p>.<p>Shares in DWAC have fallen 71 per cent since hitting their peak in early March.</p>