Two key executives who were hired to launch former President Donald Trump’s social media startup Truth Social have resigned.
Sources told Reuters that Josh Adams, the chief of technology, and Billy Boozer, Trump’s product development chief have both left the company. Their departure comes less than one year after joining the former President on his project. This is the latest development at the nascent venture that has struggled to get off the ground.
The specific circumstances behind the executives’ resignations or whether they have been replaced or their duties reassigned couldn’t immediately be determined, according to the report.
This is also coming after some critics deemed Truth Social a failure and disaster, with hundreds of thousands of users apparently dropping off.
Adams and Boozer were key players in launching the app on February 20 and their departure could stymie its effort to compete with Twitter and other social media platforms.
The departures followed the troubled launch of the company’s iPhone app on Feb. 20. Weeks later, many users remain on a waiting list, unable to access the platform.
‘If Josh has left… all bets are off,’ said one of the sources, referring to him as the ‘brains’ behind Truth Social’s technology.
Trump Media & Technology Group chief executive Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman, said publicly that the company aimed to make the app fully operational within the United States by the end of March.
The company has an app for iPhones but none for Android phones, which make up more than 40% of the US market, though the company has advertised seeking an engineer to build one.
Marketed as a free-speech platform, Truth Social was launched by Trump after he was banned in the fallout from the deadly January 6 Capitol riot by YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook for allegedly inciting or glorifying violent actions.