Establishment media begrudgingly admit Trump's Truth Social is growing

Amid near constant reporting about its legal and financial woes, nascent social media platform Truth Social has continued to grow, forcing even the most hostile of media outlets to admit that it is gaining steam.

In a New York Times article, entitled "Truth Social's Influence Grows Despite Its Business Problems," journalists Stuart Thompson and Matthew Goldstein highlighted the bevy of digital traffic the website has continued to enjoy.

Citing data from SimilarWeb, the NYT highlighted that Truth Social's webpage attracted 1.7 million unique visitors this September, placing it well above its main competitors in alternative tech such as GETTR, Gab and Parler.

The left-leaning outlet noted that, while reports emerged of revolving leadership, federal investigations, and jeopardized funding at the company, day-to-day users are still finding "a vibrant right-wing ecosystem increasingly brimming with activity."

The Times highlighted the various conservative factions and media figures that have embraced the app and driven traffic on the platform, before labeling the platform's success a boon to "election deniers," the establishment media's catch-all term for anyone with any concerns about election integrity during the 2020 presidential election.

Truth Social has grown largely on the premise of allowing free speech, a position it presents in contrast with those of mainstream platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, both of which have banned former President Donald Trump. 

Twitter, however, may soon converge with Truth Social on that issue, with Tesla founder Elon Musk recently purchasing the company and promising to curtail its strict content moderation practices. Musk has previously said he would reinstate Trump on the platform though the former president remains committed to his own digital endeavor.

Despite Twitter potentially undercutting its main selling point, the Times observed the possibility that Truth Social could develop into a major player on the social media stage. It highlighted a much-hyped, though long delayed merger between Trump Media & Technology Group with Digital World, a merger that would precede the platform's appearance on the stock exchange.

An IPO could potentially prove a windfall for the nascent platform, though the outlet foresaw further consolidation of conservative tech in the form of a prospective acquisition or merger with video platform Rumble. The combined entity, the NYT mused, "could present an imposing conservative alternative to Twitter."

It further noted that the ongoing investigations and merger delays had "overshadowed a series of smaller victories" for the app, such as the release of its android version. Moreover, the app debuted on the Google Play store in October, quickly soaring to the number one slot. In the same month, the app became available to Samsung Galaxy users.

"It took us a while to get here," Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes told Just the News. "But we're glad to be here. So we're hopeful now that everyone who has an Android can either go to the Google Play Store or the Samsung Galaxy Store and download the app."

Nunes also foreshadowed the arrival of direct messaging on the platform and promised the product would continue to develop as the company matured. 

"We have very dedicated people who believe in free speech and who work 24/7 around the clock," he said. "I mean, this is how we're able to do this. We're constantly building and testing one brick at a time very. It's very methodical, and just making sure that we can't be taken down by a tech oligarch."