A new social media platform called “Truth Social” is intended to compete with Twitter and Facebook. The site collapsed right from the start.
Donald Trump is celebrating his comeback on social media with his own platform. Since shortly before midnight in the USA on Sunday, the app called Truth Social has been available in the Apple App Store. For former US President Trump, Truth Social is an opportunity to be heard more publicly again. After the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube had banned the Republican.
Truth Social takes the same line as Parler
The interest in Truth Social was obviously great. Some users who wanted to register for an account were initially put on a waiting list with reference to the high demand. Some had already been able to use the app in a test phase. So far, alternative platforms have failed to gain a large following. These include Gettr, Parler, and Rumble, among others. What the platforms have in common is that they present themselves as advocates of freedom of speech. They want to attract users who have a hard time with the big tech giants in view of increased action against hate speech and misinformation.
Behind Truth Social is the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), led by former US Congressman Devin Nunes. TMTG can be found in the Apple App Store under the developer account T Media Tech LLC. The company raised around one billion dollars from private investors in December and plans to go public in a space deal via the empty Digital World Acquisition DWAC shell.
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What is Trump’s Truth Social App supposed to be able to do?
According to the description in the App Store, the platform should be “free of political discrimination”. Truth Social follows the “Big Tent” approach, which should be imagined as a party tent in which people of different political orientations come together to talk. The app names libertarians, conservatives and liberals as examples.
Like other social media apps, you create an account in Trumps Truth Social. This can be followed by other accounts. The app summarizes what subsequent accounts post in a “Truth Feed”. There is also a search feature to browse the app for specific interests.
The Truth Social website is currently unavailable due to excessive traffic. Instead, the error message “Error 1020” appears and a note that the site “protects itself against online attacks”. The app itself is currently not available in Germany, which is why TECHBOOK cannot test it for the time being.
