WASHINGTON DC – JANUARY 31: U.S. President Donald J. Trump makes a smile during the State of the Union The address was delivered in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber on January 30, 2018, Washington, DC. The address is the President of the United States of America’s first State of the Union speech and the second of his joint sessions to Congress. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
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Trump, the former president of the United States announced in October that he was going to “stand up against Big Tech’s tyranny” by launching a media company that would feature a platform for social media called Truth Social. This new venture is expected to be competitive with Twitter and Facebook. Each of these platforms had previously banned Trump following his incitement for the January 6 Capitol riot.
Trump was a long-time Twitter user who used it as a means of reaching his followers. However, he is currently banned from both the Twitter and Facebook services.
Jeff Kagan, an industry analyst for wireless/telecom, said that “President Donald Trump was content with his ability communicate with the people using Twitter,” until they closed him down.
Kagan sent an email explaining that President Trump was on a mission to discover new ways of reaching out to and sharing his thoughts with the world.
Although this venture doesn’t reveal whether Trump will seek higher office again, it suggests that he would like to at least be part of the process and provide a platform for reaching the masses. He wouldn’t have to worry about his social media measures being blocked, or even filtered by his company.
Kagan stated, “He would like to play.” Kagan stated that if he can’t use social media such as his Twitter account then he would have to make his own. This is an interesting idea because if successful it could open up new channels for conservatives to voice their views on politics. The future will only be seen.
On Monday however, there was an unexpected twist. It is still unclear what might be the next step. A special purpose acquisition firm (SPAC), which plans to merge with Trump’s social media company, revealed that the Securities and Exchange Commission had requested information from it about stock trading and communication with Trump before any deals were announced.
The investigations by the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) were disclosed in an 8-K filing with the SEC by Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company on track to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group, CNBC.com reported on Monday.
Digital World shares had risen by up to 1,657 per cent in just a few days following the announcement. However, very little information has been released. As a result, the deal has drawn its share of scrutiny – and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was among those who had called for the SEC to investigate whether any laws were broken. At the time, however, Digital World repeatedly told shareholders that it had not held substantive talks with a target company – as SPACs are not supposed to have merger targets planned before they raise money from the public.
On Monday, Warren (@SenWarren) tweeted, “Nobody is above the law—and there may have been serious violations of securities laws during the propose merger of Digital World Acquisition Corp & Trump’s media company. I’m glad @SECGov and @FINRA are investigating.”
Digital World shares dropped by 5 percent Monday afternoon.
While it is still illegal for SPACs not to discuss mergers prior to they become public, it seems that the ex-president was talking about Digital World several weeks before that. The company also has not revealed names/affiliations to its investors, which many consider strange.
“The SEC and the FINRA are investigating potential irregularities in the merger between the SPAC Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) and Trump Media & Technology Group,” explained technology analyst Charles King of Pund-IT. The issues are whether or not there was any discussion between the two organizations, as well as trading activity which may have taken place before the public announcement.
DWAC stated it was cooperating with information requests. The SEC filed noted that its investigation did not result in an SEC finding that someone violated any law. SPAC also stated in a similar manner that FINRA requested that it not interpret its inquiry as a statement that FINRA had found violations of the federal securities laws and Nasdaq rules.
Trump and the company probably didn’t want this announcement to be trending on social networks.
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