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Alex Gleason’s departure comes amid a period of prolonged
uncertainty for Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which
launched Truth Social as a way for Trump to connect with his
base after he was cut off from major social media platforms
after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his
followers.
Gleason is the founder of Soapbox Technology, which provides
open-source technology for “decentralized” social media
platforms that operate on independently-run servers and provide
an alternative to Twitter and Facebook.
Gleason said in an interview that he is leaving TMTG to work on
Soapbox full-time, developing technology for connecting multiple
decentralized platforms.
TMTG hired Gleason in January 2022 to adapt Soapbox’s technology
for its own needs, eventually using it as the front-end
technology - which users see and interact with - for the Truth
Social app.
A representative for TMTG did not respond to a request for
comment about Gleason’s departure.
Truth Social has struggled to show strong growth in the number
of users since its February 2022 launch.
Since then, Trump has been reinstated on the more widely-used
platforms from which he was ousted, including Facebook and
Twitter, and Truth Social’s user base has remained tiny compared
to the growth targets TMTG laid out in November 2021, when it
told investors the app would reach 56 million users by 2024 and
81 million by 2026.
Truth Social has an estimated 607,000 monthly users, according
to data from Similarweb.
Trump had 5.71 million followers on Truth Social as of July 17,
compared to the more than 88 million followers he had on Twitter
when the platform suspended him.
TMTG had in October 2021 announced a deal to go public by
merging with blank-check firm Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC)
but the merger has been in doubt as investigations by the
Justice Department and the U.S. securities regulator have
delayed its closing.
A filing earlier this month showed that DWAC has reached an
agreement with the staff of the Securities and Exchange
Commission, though it was not yet definitive and the terms were
subject to the SEC's approval.
(Reporting by Helen Coster, editing by Deepa Babington)
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