Truth Social (2024)

Truth Social is a social media platform and app for iOS and Android, developed by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG, d.b.a. T Media Tech LLC).

Background[]

In January 2021, U.S. president Donald Trump was banned from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube after being associated with the U.S. Capitol attack. In October 2021, former president Trump responded by announcing that he would launch his own social media platform.^[1][2] Trump hired former congressman Devin Nunes to be the CEO.^[3]

Development[]

Version 0.0.1 of the software was soft launched internally for beta testing on October 17, 2021.^[4] Within days, hackers gained access to the site, creating impersonation accounts for Trump and Mike Pence that were then taken down.^[2] Truth Social initially claimed that its software was proprietary, and was soon threatened with a lawsuit by Mastodon, which discovered that its open source software was actually being used in violation of its AGPLv3 license.^[5] On November 12, 2021, Truth Social posted its source code to comply with the terms of the license and avoid the lawsuit.^[6] It is hosted by RightForge, an internet service provider that has been featured in conservative media.^[7]

Release[]

On February 21, 2022, Truth Social debuted on iOS through Apple's App Store. The platform advertised itself as a "Big Tent" for open and free conversation, briefly reaching the top of Apple's most downloaded apps. However, it was beset by technical problems and accusations of censorship, leading to a loss of interest and criticism that it was not yet available on other platforms besides iOS. Truth Social's availability on Apple devices was criticized for being on "the most communist deep state platform".^{[3][8][9][10]} Due to Truth Social's capacity limitations, users reported being stuck on waitlists and being unable to use the site after its launch.^[11] On August 19, 2022, Google notified Truth Social that the Android version of the app would not become available through the Google Play store until shortcomings in moderating its user-generated content were addressed.^[12] Truth Social was finally released on the Google Play store on October 13, 2022.^[13]

Reception[]

By March 12, 2022, Truth Social had dropped to 173rd place among downloaded apps.^[14] The average user visit in March was about 90 seconds.^[15] By April 2022, Truth Social's technology, legal, and product development chiefs Josh Adams, Lori Heyer-Bednar, and Billy Boozer reportedly left the company.^[16][17] In a review conducted by Business Insider, Truth Social was described as "a conservative ghost town that had been overrun by bots".^[18] Though by summer 2022, Truth Social attracted dozens of accounts associated with QAnon supporters that had been banned from other social media platforms.^[19]

When Twitter, under new ownership by Elon Musk, reinstated Trump's account and invited him to return, Trump responded by stating that he had no interest in returning to Twitter and would stay at Truth Social.^[20]

Future[]

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) had been planning for a merger with Digital World Acquisition, a special-purpose acquisition company formed to merge with an existing company, which can raise funds for shareholders by taking a private company public without the typical initial public offering process. However, the acquisition was postponed while Truth Social's business dealings underwent investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.^[21] The company's trademark filing for the name "Truth Social" was also denied by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.^[22] According to Fox Business News, the social media platform's finances were in question as RightForge threatened legal action, claiming that Truth Social had failed to make payments on a $1.6 million contract for its internet services.^[23] In August 2022, Digital World Acquisition's stock fell by over 70% after reporting losses of over $6 million in the first half of the year.^[24] However, interest in Truth Social had increased that month due to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago (Trump's estate in Florida), causing it to jump from 60th to 37th place among most popular social microblogging apps.^[25]

System requirements[]

• iOS 13.0 or later

References[]

See also[]

• Parler, an earlier social media platform also used by supporters of Trump.

External links[]

• Truth Social official website
  • What's Open Source? (downloads of source code)
• Truth Social at the Apple App Store
• Truth Social at Google Play
• Truth Social at Wikipedia

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