‘s struggling social media venture hit more trouble on Monday when it emerged that two tech entrepreneurs had quit Truth Social and that the platform is only now advertising for an engineer to help build an app – depriving millions of Trump supporters from the chance to sign up.
Last week, download data revealed that Truth Social’s launch had fizzled quickly.
And now Josh Adams and Billy Boozer have left their jobs as chiefs of technology and product development less than a year after joining.
Their departures – reported by Reuters – follow a difficult launch of the company’s app on Feb. 20.
Weeks later, many users are still 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.
Industry analysts estimate the app has been downloaded 1.2 million times in all – putting it well behind other apps that target conservative users such as Parler with 11.3 million and GETTR at 6.8 million installations.
Its reliance on iPhone users and the absence of an Android app could be putting it at a particular disadvantage.
Android phones comprise about 40 percent of the U.S. market, but skews much higher among Trump supporters.
At the time of the last election, the Trump campaign found that almost two thirds of his base were using Android phones – in part because of distrust of Apple and in part because of the expense of iPhones.
Tech entrepreneur Billy Boozer has left Trump Social, Reuters reported on Monday, along with another senior figure Josh Adams in the latest blow to Donald Trump’s social media app
Truth Social is Trump’s highest profile business venture since leaving office, and is part of his fightback against social media platforms that banned him last year
The app launched in February but its download numbers stalled in recent weeks, according to research by Sensor Tower, which said they had plunged by more than 90 percent
The shaky rollout has reportedly infuriated Trump himself, who sees the app as a chance to stand up for free speech and strike a blow against platforms that banned him after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol last year.
Trump has been heard on the phone ‘swearing gratuitously’ and asking ‘what the f*** is going on’ with the app, according to the .
And things could be getting worse.
The exit of two executives critical to the app-launch efforts could imperil the company’s progress as it tries to prove it can compete with mainstream platforms such as Twitter, two people familiar with the company told Reuters.
‘If Josh has left, all bets are off,’ a source said of tech chief Adams, calling him the ‘brains’ behind the platform’s technology.
Another source familiar with the venture said Boozer also had a major bussinese leadership role as product chief, running management across technology infrastructure, design and development teams.
Boozer declined to comment and Adams did not respond to a request. Representatives for TMTG and Trump did not respond to requests for comment.
It is the latest bad news for Trump and his highest-profile business venture since leaving the White House.
Last week an industry analyst said Truth Social was installed only 60,000 per week during the past month.
‘This is down 93% from its launch week, when it saw 872,000 installs during the week of F