Truth Social

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Truth Social
250px
Web address truthsocial.com
Registration Required
Owner Trump Media & Technology Group
Launched February 21, 2022
Current status Released

Truth Social (also stylized as TRUTH Social) is a social media platform created by Trump Media & Technology Group, an American media and technology company founded in October 2021 by former U.S. president Donald Trump. The platform has been described as a competitor in the alt-tech field that includes Parler and Gab.[1][2]

The service launched on February 21, 2022.[3] Since its launch, the Truth Social platform has suffered severe problems with scalability, leading to a lower than expected user base.[4][5][6] As of May 2022, the service is only accessible via an iPhone app,[7] and access is limited to users in the United States and Canada.[8]

History

Background

Former U.S. president Donald Trump raised the prospect of building a new social media platform after he was banned from Facebook and Twitter in 2021, following the 2021 United States Capitol attack.[9] In May 2021, Trump launched "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump", a web page where he posted short tweet-like announcements; it was shut down after less than a month,[10] with Trump's senior aide Jason Miller confirming that it would not be coming back.[11]

Announcement

In October 2021, the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) published a document outlining the Truth Social platform, citing a poll saying one-third of the U.S. population polled had stated they would use a social media platform endorsed by Trump.[12] On October 20, TMTG issued a press release announcing the platform would have its public launch in "the first quarter of 2022." It was slated to enter limited beta for iOS in Apple's App Store in November 2021,[13][14][15] and though it did not meet this schedule for its beta testing,[16] Trump claimed in December 2021 that "invited guests" were already using the beta system.[17][18]

Hours after the press release, a person identifying themselves as a part of the hacker collective Anonymous used Shodan to discover domains related to the company, eventually locating what appeared to be a publicly-accessible mobile beta of the service. The URL, which permitted users to sign up and use the platform, was leaked across social media.[19] Users began trolling, creating parody accounts, and posting rants and memes. Users were able to sign up with usernames of high-profile individuals including Trump, Mike Pence, and Jack Dorsey.[20] The link was later taken offline.[21]

Reactions

The New York Times described Truth Social as an addition to the field of already-existing alt-tech platforms.[1] BBC journalist James Clayton stated that the platform could be a more successful version of other alt-tech social media platforms like Parler and Gab, and is an attempt by Trump to gain his "megaphone" back.[2] Gettr CEO Jason Miller, a former advisor of Trump, praised Truth Social and said that the platform will cause Facebook and Twitter to "lose even more market share".[22] Gab said in a statement that it supports Truth Social and that users of Gab can follow Trump on his reserved Gab account.[23]

Among critical reactions, Chris Cillizza of CNN wrote that the platform was doomed to fail.[24] Noah Berlatsky, writing in The Independent, described it as a potential threat to democracy.[25] The Forward raised concerns of antisemitism becoming prominent on the platform, noting similar platforms that have become known for hosting antisemitic content, such as Parler, Gab, and Telegram.[26] Rolling Stone observed that while Truth Social promises to be an open and free platform, Truth Social's terms of service include a clause stating that users cannot disparage the service.[27] The New York Times expressed skepticism about whether Truth Social would be able to compete effectively against rival services.[28]

Platform

Software

Truth Social is modeled heavily after Twitter. Users are able to make posts ("Truths", similar to tweets) and share other users' posts ("ReTruths", similar to retweets).[29] The Truth Social platform uses a custom version of the free and open-source social network hosting software Mastodon, but omits several features, including polls and post visibility options.[30][31]

On October 21, 2021, the Software Freedom Conservancy group stated that they suspected Truth Social had violated Mastodon's AGPLv3 license by not offering its source code to all users.[32][33][34] The Mastodon developers then formally requested that Truth Social comply with the terms of the software license[35], with Truth Social publishing its source code as a ZIP file on the website on November 12 2021.[36]

As of April 2022, the service was only accessible via an iPhone app, with neither a web interface nor an Android app available.[7][37] CEO Devin Nunes announced that a web version would be released by the end of May 2022.[38]

Infrastructure

The Truth Social service was originally hosted on RightForge, a company aimed at providing internet hosting for conservative causes that describes itself as "The first global Internet infrastructure company committed to American principles online".[39][40]

On December 14, 2021, TMTG said it had partnered with the Canadian online video platform Rumble and that Rumble was already providing cloud services to the Truth Social beta service.[17] On 21 April 2022, TMTG announced that Truth Social would be moving to Rumble's cloud platform,[41] and announced that they would be performing infrastructure upgrades to increase the performance of the platform.[42]

TMTG engaged the services of Hive, a content moderation company, to use machine learning to filter postings for unacceptable content.[43]

Content policies

Truth Social was launched proclaiming itself as a "big tent" platform without political censorship, allowing for "free expression".[44][45][46]

When the company was first announced in October 2021, its terms of service[47] said the company would not be legally responsible for "the content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions [or] reliability" of anything users might post to the service. Some commentators noted that this self-declared immunity appeared to rely on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that Trump firmly opposed during his presidency.[21][48][49]

The terms of service further added that users would be forbidden to "disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site". Truth Social said it has the right to "suspend or terminate your account" and also "take appropriate legal action".[48]

Truth Social has blocked accounts for behavior it considers harmful or inappropriate, including creating accounts with parody names and making death threats.[50][51]

Operations

Launch

Trump made the platform's first post on February 16, 2022.[52] That day, TMTG CEO Devin Nunes said he expected the platform would not completely open to the public until late March.[53] A beta test with 500 users was in operation during February 2022.[54]

On February 21, 2022, Truth Social was released on Apple iOS,[55] reaching No. 1 on Apple's App Store's top charts.[56][57] Due to an extensive backlog of applicants, upon downloading the app, about 500,000 people who initially attempted to register as users were automatically waitlisted.[58][59][60]

The app was installed 872,000 times during its first week, but a month later, new user signup had fallen to 60,000 per week. During that same time period, weekly visits to truthsocial.com fell from 6 million to fewer than 2 million.[61]

Upon its launch, the British automotive solar power company Trailar complained that the Truth Social app logo closely resembled their "T" logo.[62]

The platform has been criticized for its poor performance at launch, with waitlisting of users attempting to register, and extended outages.[63] A day after the product launch, The Washington Post described it as "a disaster".[58] One week after its launch, Newsweek reported that some early adopters were beginning to lose interest in the app due to low numbers of users and poor engagement, although others were willing to persevere with the app to see if things would improve.[64]

Growth problems

The Truth Social platform has suffered from severe and persistent problems with scalability from the outset, limiting the platform's growth.[4][5]

In early March 2022, multiple sources reported that Truth Social usage remained low, with Trump himself not having posted to his account since his first message two weeks earlier, with his account only having 140,000 followers—less than 0.2% of the 90 million followers he had on Twitter before his account was banned.[46][4] The Daily Dot reported that the Truth Social iPhone app had fallen from the #1 slot for downloads on the Apple App Store to #84.[65] The Daily Beast reported that Trump was dissatisfied with the social network's progress.[5][7]

At the end of March 2022, TheWrap reported that weekly installations of the Truth Social app had fallen from 872,000 in its launch week to around 60,000 per week, a reduction of over 90%. Visits to truthsocial.com had also fallen, from 6 million per week to 1.9 million. According to Sensor Tower, Truth Social has been downloaded 1.2 million times.[66] Bloomberg reported that shares in Truth Social's publicly traded holding company Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC) had fallen 31% from the time of the app's launch in late February[67] and 64% from its all-time high.[68]

In early April 2022, Business Insider described Truth Social as "like a conservative ghost town that had been overrun by bots".[69] The network is only available on ios, to users in the United States. A U.S.-based reporter for the BBC attempted to sign up in early April and was placed on a wait list with about 1.4 million requests ahead of him.[70]

On April 4, it was reported that Josh Adams and Billy Boozer, the platform's chief of technology and chief of product development respectively, had left the company.[71][72] A report in The Washington Post stated that Truth Social was "falling apart", with problems mounting on multiple fronts.[73] A Guardian article compared Truth Social with Trump Steaks and Trump Vodka.[6]

Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk

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Main article: Acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk

Following Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, numerous commentators observed that a Musk-run Twitter would be likely to reduce demand for Truth Social's services.[74][75] Musk stated that as of late April 2022, Truth Social iOS app downloads exceeded those of Twitter and TikTok on the same platform.[76] Musk stated Truth Social only exists because of Twitter's restrictions on free speech. Describing 'Truth Social' as a "terrible name", Musk suggested that Truth Social should be renamed "Trumpet".[77][78]

Following Musk's comments on Twitter, the Truth Social app rose in popularity, returning to the #1 position for free iOS apps on Apple's App Store on April 30, with the Twitter app at #2, and DWAC shares also rose in value.[79][80][81] The effect was short-lived, with Truth Social dropping to 11th place for social network downloads by March 4, with Twitter at #1.[82][83]

Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes later stated that Musk had been encouraged by Trump to buy Twitter.[84] Musk has denied this, saying that "This is false. I’ve had no communication, directly or indirectly, with Trump, who has publicly stated that he will be exclusively on Truth Social".[85][86] Musk subsequently stated that he intends to undo Twitter's ban on Trump's Twitter account if his bid for the company is successful.[87] Following Musk's comments, Nunes reiterated that Trump was committed to Truth Social, and would not rejoin Twitter even if his ban were to be lifted.[88]

Use by Donald Trump

Trump has not been a frequent user of the Truth Social platform. Although he made the platform's first post on 16 February 2022 with the message "Get ready! Your favorite president will see you soon",[52] he did not make a second posting until 28 April, posting "I'M BACK! #COVFEFE", a reference to the covfefe meme.[89]

Following the announcement of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, Trump publicly stated that he does not intend to return to Twitter, and intends to remain on Truth Social.[90][91][92] On 6 May, in a court filing responding to the New York attorney general's demand for his cell phones, Trump said that Truth Social recently gave him a phone that he only uses to post on Truth Social.[93]

Other issues

Axios reported that Truth Social had given a verified account to the white nationalist advocate[94] Nick Fuentes, who has been banned from Twitter and Facebook. Axios also reported that there were official-looking accounts for @FoxNews, @NFL, @FoxSports, @ESPN and other brands, with legitimate-appearing links and logos, which had not been created by the named entities.[95] By April 2022, the @nytimes account was labeled "The Failing NY Times," while @CNN was labeled "CNN (Parody)".[96]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  81. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  82. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  84. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  85. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  86. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  89. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  90. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  91. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  92. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  93. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  94. ↑ Multiple sources:
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  95. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  96. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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