Nine days after the launch of Truth Social, valued at $3.5B+, Trump has not posted, the app has fallen to #57 in US App Store, and many remain on the waitlist
Former President Trump is blowing the launch of his new social media company, via a series of unforced errors. Tweets: @levynews , @edbott , @pkafka , @stevekovach , @stevekovach , and @jyarow Tweets: Ari Levy / @levynews : really surprised this isn't working out https://twitter.com/... Ed Bott / @edbott : “As of this writing, Truth Social has fallen to No. 57 in the App Store, just behind Tinder and Planet Fitness Workouts.” https://twitter.com/... Peter Kafka / @pkafka : “The former president is Truth Social's founder and chairman, so he obviously bears some responsibility for putting together the team that's so far fallen on its face. But, most importantly, he's not using the app.” https://twitter.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : This company has a (potential) $3.5 billion valuation on the idea Trump will post to Truth Social and draw in his fans from Twitter. Trump has posted zero times so far. https://twitter.com/... Steve Kovach / @stevekovach : Like clockwork. A free speech, anything goes Twitter clone launches. Folks proudly proclaim they're leaving Twitter for the New App. They don't. The difference this time? It's the former president who didn't follow through. https://www.axios.com/... Jay Yarow / @jyarow : “Trump hasn't posted a single time since the launch, despite an international crisis that has captivated the country.” https://www.axios.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The launch was set up as a bet on one asset: Trump himself. In January he declined offers from Gettr and Parler to build his own platform, and days before launch the app had only opened to around 500 beta testers — a thin runway for an app whose core pitch is access to its founder.
Nine days after the February 21 US App Store debut, that bet is visibly misfiring: signups hit error messages and a waitlist at launch, the app has slid to No. 57 behind Tinder and Planet Fitness Workouts, and Trump has not posted. The $3.5B+ potential valuation attached to Trump Media & Technology Group is priced on engagement that so far has no anchor.
First-order effects
- Users admitted off the waitlist land in a feed where the platform's sole draw has not appeared, giving early adopters no reason to stay or to recruit others.
- Trump Media & Technology Group's headline valuation is exposed: with the founder silent and rankings falling, the gap between the $3.5B+ paper value and actual usage becomes the story investors and press cover.
Second-order effects
- Gettr and Parler — the rivals Trump passed over — get a second opening to court the same audience while Truth Social's waitlist gates its own growth.
- App Store visibility compounds the slide: dropping out of the top charts cuts organic discovery precisely when the product needs new signups to justify the waitlist backlog.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, it confirms what the later traffic data showed — US monthly visits down 39%+ year over year per Similarweb — namely that personality-driven social platforms cannot convert a founder's celebrity into durable usage without the founder actively posting, and that alt-platform valuations decouple from engagement fast.
The trend: Politician-backed alternative social networks are discovering that founder celebrity is a launch asset but not a retention engine, with engagement and valuations diverging within weeks of launch.