Trump SPAC stock jumps after Google adds Truth Social to Play Store

Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp., the corporate aiming to take former President Donald Trump’s media company public, jumped during after-hours trading after Google added the Truth Social app to its Play Store.

The platform had previously been barred from the Play Store for content moderation concerns. Google said the app violated its policies for moderating user-generated content.

“Apps could also be distributed on Google Play provided they comply with our developer guidelines, including the requirement to effectively moderate user-generated content and take away objectionable posts akin to those who incite violence,” a Google spokesman said.

Truth Social has agreed to implement content moderation policies, which include removing or blocking users who publish posts that incite violence, in keeping with Google. Twitter had banned Trump in January 2021 “as a result of the danger of further incitement of violence,” after lots of of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. That motion spurred Trump to create Truth Social.

Truth Social is now available to the 44% of smartphone users within the U.S. who use an Android. Before the app was unbarred, Android users needed to access Truth Social on their phone web browser or by “sideloading” it through one other website. The app has been available on Apple’s App Store. Google reinstated Parler, a platform much like Truth Social, to the Play Store in September after the app was substantially modified to comply with Google’s policies.

CNBC has reached out to DWAC and Trump Media and Technology Group.

The news comes days after DWAC, a so-called blank check company, further pushed a vote to delay its merger with Trump Media. DWAC, led by CEO Patrick Orlando, has to date didn’t garner the obligatory 65% of shareholders to increase the merger deadline. DWAC is ready to liquidate Dec. 8 if an extension isn’t approved.

The merger has faced obstacles, each legal and financial. DWAC’s private investors were set to offer $1 billion to Trump Media upon the merger’s completion. But at the least $138 million of that cash was withdrawn, and the corporate moved its address to a UPS Store. 

The DWAC-Trump Media deal is the topic of a Justice Department probe into potential securities violations for discussions between the 2 corporations prior to the merger announcement last fall.

Trump founded Truth Social after he was barred from Twitter over his tweets on Jan. 6, 2021, when his followers stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent try to block Congress from confirming Joe Biden’s victory within the presidential election.

DWAC’s shares took a leg down last week after Elon Musk revived his deal to purchase Twitter, where Trump had about 80 million followers. Musk has said he would let Trump back on Twitter. Trump has about 4 million followers on Truth Social.

Meanwhile, a whistleblower from inside Trump Media, William Wilkerson, has provided the SEC with internal documents. He filed a criticism with the regulator, alleging securities violations.

“A technique or one other, this company goes to go bankrupt,” Wilkerson recently told the Miami Herald. “I do not think the corporate goes to be approved by the SEC.”

DWAC has also warned that further damage to Trump’s fame could imperil the corporate. Trump, who’s considering one other run for president in 2024, is facing a federal criminal probe into whether he illegally kept and stashed sensitive national security documents after he left the White House.

Shares of DWAC, which closed Wednesday at $15.96, have fallen about 69% to date this 12 months.