Topline
Former President Donald Trump’s social media network Truth Social was the most downloaded free iPhone app in the App Store on Tuesday, with Twitter close behind at No. 2 a day after the company’s board agreed to be acquired by Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk for $44 billion.
Key Facts
On Monday, before the deal was announced, Truth Social was ranked 52nd and Twitter was in 39th place on the download chart.
Downloads of Truth Social rose to 75,000 for the week of April 18 to 25, up 150% from the week before, according to data from Sensor Tower, a company that monitors mobile apps metrics and has tracked the launch of Trump’s social media site.
Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), the special purpose acquisition company that plans to merge with Truth Social, were up 3% to $36.81 Tuesday afternoon after plummeting Monday morning following reports Twitter would accept Musk’s buyout.
The spike in Truth Social app installations comes after reports that downloads of the social media platform had fallen in recent weeks following a messy launch of the site.
The Truth Social app has been downloaded roughly 1.4 million times to date since its launch in February, according to Sensor Tower.
Big Number
194 million. That’s how many times Twitter’s mobile app was downloaded in 2021, down 3% from 2020, according to Sensor Tower. The company has the fewest number of users of any of the major social media sites.
Key Background
Trump first announced he would launch his own social networking site to rival “liberal” media platforms last fall after he was banned from Twitter and other major platforms following the January 6 insurrection. The site was supposed to be fully operational at the end of March, but in April, millions were still stuck on the public wait list. Shares of DWAC also fell more than 10% in early April following news that the company’s heads of technology and product development had quit. Downloads of Truth Social plummeted nearly 97% from the week following the site’s Feb 21 launch to the week of April 11 to 18, according to data from Sensor Tower. It’s unclear whether Musk’s takeover of Twitter could spark more problems for Truth Social. Trump has proposed the site as a free speech alternative to Twitter, but Musk has questioned the company’s moderation practices and has suggested he might make changes.
Further Reading
Trump’s Truth Social SPAC Down More Than 9% Following Reports Twitter Is Nearing A Deal With Musk (Forbes)
