Two Executives Quit Trump’s Truth Social After ‘Troubled’ Launch of Social Media Platform
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Former President Donald Trump’s attempt to build a social media platform just hit a new snag as two key Truth Social executives have walked away from the startup.
A new report from Reuters focuses on Josh Adams and Billy Boozer, who until recently, served as Truth Social’s company’s chiefs of technology and product development. Sources say Adams and Boozer joined the company last year because of their belief in the Truth Social goal of creating an “anti-cancel culture” forum, and an “open platform, where as long as you don’t say anything that is criminal…you can be entitled to your own opinion.”
It’s been less than a year since Adams and Boozer joined Truth Social, but Reuters’ sources say “both have resigned their senior posts at a critical juncture for the company’s smartphone-app release plans.”
From the report:
The departures followed the troubled launch of the company’s iPhone app on Feb. 20. Weeks later, many users remain on a waiting list, unable to access the platform. Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) Chief Executive Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman, said publicly that the company aimed to make the app fully operational within the United States by the end of March.
The company has an app for iPhones but no app for Android phones, which comprise more than 40% of the U.S. market, though the company has advertised seeking an engineer to build one.
The Adams and Boozer resignations come while Truth Social is still struggling to compete with mainstream social platforms, not to mention other alternatives like Gab and Gettr. The development is the latest of several setbacks Truth Social has seen since launching in February.
When the platform went live, it was only available on Apple, and users who wanted to make an account quickly found themselves on a waiting list of more than 100,000. Truth Social also has outstanding questions about their account security, and the only real presence they had at CPAC was when Trump plugged them in the speech he gave at the event. All of that, and reports indicate that the app’s downloads cratered after launch.
Sources describe Adams as the “brains” behind Truth Social’s technology while Boozer played critical roles managing tech infrastructure and development. Reuters couldn’t determine why they resigned their executive posts, or if they are still working for Truth Social in a different capacity, but one of their sources said “If Josh has left…all bets are off.”
UPDATE – 12:38 p.m. ET: Politico followed up on Reuters’ reporting by saying Lori Heyer-Bednar, Truth Social’s chief legal officer, also took leave from the organization.
