Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), the company trying to take former US president Donald Trump’s media company public, jumped in pre-market trading as Google finally added the Truth Social app to its Play Store.
Its shares were changing hands 9.6% higher at US$17.49 on the New York Stock Exchange, with still over four hours to go until market open in the US.
It was previously barred because Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)-owned Google said the application violated its policies for moderating user-generated content.
“Apps may be distributed on Google Play provided they comply with our developer guidelines, including the requirement to effectively moderate user-generated content and remove objectionable posts such as those that incite violence,” a Google spokesman commented.
Truth Social said it would enforce the required content-checking policies, including removing or blocking users who promote violence.
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) banned the former American president in January 2021 “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”, after hundreds of his supporters swarmed the US Capitol in aggressive riots, spurring Trump to create the app.
The DWAC-Trump Media merger has faced countless legal and financial issues.
DWAC private investors were meant to provide US$1bn to Trump Media upon the completion but at least US$138mln of that was withdrawn.