Josh Adams and Billy Boozer – the company’s chief technology and product developers – joined the venture last year and quickly became central players in building a social media empire, backed by Trump’s strong brand, to counter what many conservatives ridicule as “cancel culture” censorship from the left. Less than a year later, the two resigned from their senior positions at a critical juncture for the company’s smartphone app plans, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The departures followed the problematic release of the company’s iPhone application on February 20. Weeks later, many users remain on a waiting list without access to the platform. Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican lawmaker, has publicly stated that the company aims to make the application fully operational in the United States by the end of March. The company has an app for iPhone, but no app for Android phones, which make up more than 40% of the US market, although the company has advertised that it is looking for an engineer to build one. Boozer declined to comment and Adams did not respond to a request for comment. TMTG and Trump representatives did not respond to requests for comment. This account is based on Reuters interviews with eight people with knowledge of Truth Social’s activities, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. Truth Social is part of a growing segment of tech companies that cater to conservatives and advertise as free speech champions. The platform promised to give Trump unrestricted communication with the American public for more than a year after he was barred from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for allegedly inciting or glorifying violence during the January 6, 2021 riots in the US Capitol. The departure of two executives crucial to the app’s marketing efforts could jeopardize the company’s progress as it tries to prove it can compete with major platforms like Twitter, said two people who know the company. Like Twitter, Trump’s platform offers users the opportunity to connect and share their thoughts. “If Josh is gone; all bets are void,” one of the sources told technology chief Adams, calling him the “brain” behind Truth Social technology. Another source familiar with the project said Boozer also had an important leadership role as product manager, managing technology infrastructure, design and development teams. Reuters could not determine the specific circumstances behind the resignations of the executives or whether they have been replaced or reassigned. It is also unclear whether Adams and Boozer will continue to work in the project in a different capacity after resigning. Their resignations came before their key roles in the closely watched company, outside of Truth Social’s secret culture, became known. Adams and Boozer worked at a level just below Wes Moss and Andy Litsinski, both former teammates in “The Apprentice,” Trump’s most successful television reality show, according to a source familiar with the matter. Moss and Litinsky have been the “senior, day-to-day leadership” of the company since it launched last summer, the source said. The two men had introduced Trump to the social media venture in January 2021, according to a person familiar with the company’s founding. Reuters could not determine the specific job titles or responsibilities of Moss and Litinsky, none of whom responded to requests for comment. TMTG published little information about its executive leadership team other than CEO Nunes, who joined in December. Another open question is how TMTG finances its current development. The company plans to enter the stock market through a merger with the white check company Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC). The agreement is under the control of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission and is probably months away from finalization. DWAC revealed in a regulatory filing last December that the SEC was investigating the deal. The SEC has not commented on the nature of the investigation and did not respond to a request for comment Sunday. Investors have pledged $ 1 billion to TMTG, but will not return the money until the DWAC deal is finalized. DWAC shares fell 13% after opening the market on Monday, a day when Twitter (TWTR.N) saw its shares rise 25% after an investment by Telsa CEO Elon Musk. The extent of Trump’s involvement with the company of the same name and the Truth Social platform also remains unclear. The former president has so far written only one post – or “truth” – on the platform, writing on February 14: “Get ready! Get ready!” Your beloved President will see you soon! “ Truth Social downloads plummeted from 866,000 installations a week to 60,000 a week on March 14, according to data analyst firm Sensor Tower. The company estimates that Truth Social has been downloaded a total of 1.2 million times, well behind rival conservative Parler and Gettr with 11.3 million and 6.8 million installations, respectively. TARGETING LARGE TECH When they joined the company last year, Adams and Boozer embraced the vision of a social media company with a “culture-anti-cancellation” mission, according to one source familiar with the matter. Executives strongly believed in creating an “open platform, where as long as you do not say anything criminal,” he said, “you can have your say.” Reuters could not determine the exact date the two executives joined the company, but was working on the Truth Social app until the fall, according to two sources familiar with the matter. As the company looked for engineers who had both the necessary skills and compatible policies, Adams and Boozer matched, said another person who knows the company. To gauge whether potential recruiters were eligible, recruitment managers explored the candidates’ political ideology, at least in one case by scanning their social media profiles and listening to their podcast appearances, the man said. The company’s political trend has limited its recruitment team. At least one candidate has dismissed an oversupply, saying he could not work for Trump, said the person who knows the company. Others who rejected the company’s approach said they were concerned about job security and feared the company and its employees could be top targets for hackers, according to two people familiar with the company’s recruitment efforts. Adams joined Trump’s company after building a career as a software developer in his hometown of Alabama. He co-founded Daring Bit Assembly, a product and software development consulting firm whose clients include the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the launch of Shipt e-commerce, according to the Daring Bit Assembly website. Adams is a “constitutionalist” who believes in a strict interpretation of the authors’ original intention for the fundamental US document, said one of the people familiar with the company’s operations. In May 2021, Adams filed a lawsuit in Alabama federal court against the state governor, a Republican, and his health official, claiming that the state order during the coronavirus pandemus violated the U.S. Constitution and . The case was dismissed in June 2021. Boozer, also a former Conservative politician living in Alabama, had worked with Adams frequently before joining Truth Social, according to the source. With Adams in place to direct the application’s back-end infrastructure, Boozer has brought strong dominance to front-end technology that touches users, according to the source. The couple kept a low profile despite holding high positions in the project that they watched closely. Neither Adams nor Boozer revealed their work on Truth Social on their LinkedIn profiles, which list many other jobs and ventures from their past. The company did not publicly announce their recruitment. The roles of Adams and Boozer were mentioned in an investor presentation in November as head of technology at TMTG Technology Group and head of products – but without their last names. When Truth Social was released, they were often uploaded to the platform, but still presented to the public only as “Josh A”. and “Billy B.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by Helen Coster and Julia Love. additional references by Krystal Hu and Echo Wang in New York. curated by: Kenneth Li and Brian Thevenot Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
