Trump’s social media company needs more time to cook the books

On Tuesday, Axios reported that Digital World Acquisition Corp., the so-called special purpose acquisition company, or “blank check” company former President Donald Trump used to finance his social media platform Truth Social, is moving to request a delay in its second-quarter earnings report.

“The success of Truth Social and its parent Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) rides on the financial health of its parent company and its SPAC,” reported Sara Fischer. “In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Tuesday, DWAC said it was unable to file its second-quarter earnings report ‘because additional time is needed to prepare the financial statements.’ DWAC noted it would file its earnings report within the five-day grace period allotted by the SEC.”

“Asked in the filing whether the company anticipates ‘any significant change in results of operations from the corresponding period for the last fiscal year will be reflected by the earnings statements’ that would be included in the report, DWAC checked a box that read ‘Yes,'” noted the report. “The company said lost roughly $4.7 million last quarter and around $6.5 million total for the first half of the year, but that those figures are still being reviewed by its accounting firm and could be subject to change with the official earnings report.”  (TRANSLATION:  We need more time to cook the books.)

Truth Social, which Trump now uses as his exclusive social media platform after having been banned from Twitter and temporarily suspended from Facebook, has been plagued with a litany of problems since its rollout in February, including technical issues and an exodus of staff. Reports have also come out, ironically, of people who signed up for the purportedly “pro free-speech” site being censored for posting footage from the January 6 hearings, and being bound by terms of service even more restrictive than Twitter.

Meanwhile, the company has also faced legal action, with an investor in DWAC suing the company’s CEO and alleging fraud.

All of this comes as Truth Social comes under scrutiny after scrubbing an account suspected to belong to the former January 6 rioter who was killed by police after trying to shoot his way into the FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio.