Trump defends Truth Social amid reports of financial chaos

Internet company reportedly owed more than $1m

Donald Trump has hit back at reports of financial trouble at Truth Social, his social media venture, by dismissing those accounts as “Fake News” amid a threat of possible legal trouble.

On Monday, the former president posted on his Truth Social account: “The Fake News Media is devastated at how well TRUTH is doing. So, quite on cue, they are working overtime to criticize and demean it.”

According to Fox Business Network, who was first to report on the financial trouble on Thursday, Truth Social and its parent company allegedly owed more than $1m to an internet infrastructure firm, RightForge, who could be forced to take the company to court and the app offline.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, RightForge was believed to have last received a payment from Truth Social in March – about five months into the conservative company’s contract to provide web hosting infrastructure for Mr Trump’s “pro free speech” social media platform.

A spokesperson for RightForge told Axios that the company was, however, “committed to servicing” Truth Social and its parent company, the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), although it remains unclear how Truth Social will pay back $1.6m allegedly owed.

“We were there from the ground floor and we support the president and all of his endeavors and we’re committed to building a free speech American ideas based internet,” CEO Martin Avila was quoted as saying. The Independent has approached RightForge for comment.

Taking to Truth Social, which launched in February this year with a number of technical difficulties, Mr Trump added that his beliguered social media site was doing “550 per cent” better since the FBI search on Mar-a-Lago, which was carried out this month in connection with a Justice Department investigation into classified documents allegedly taken unlawfully to his Florida estate.

“Actually, many of the big guns in Washington, D.C., are fighting to stop the TRUTH but, they won’t be successful,” wrote Mr Trump. “They are going after the outside financial company, and virtually anybody that walks and breaths, but that won’t do it.”

In another setback for Mr Trump – who was banned permanently from Twitter for spreading election lies in the run-up to the January 6 Capitol riot before establishing his own network – the US Patent and TradeMark Office last week refused to trademark Truth Social.

Truth Social also remains unavailable for Android users – almost half the US mobile phone market – while reports suggest that Mr Trump may no longer sit on the board of TMTG amid a federal investigation into possible wrongdoing ahead of a planned merger, as Forbes reported last month.

The Independent has approached Mr Trump for comment.