Truth Social: Donald Trump's social media app launches on Apple's App Store
It comes about a year after the former US president was banned from major social media platforms
Former US President Donald Trump's new social media app, Truth Social, was launched on Sunday night in the Apple App Store, marking Trump's return to social media after being banned from many platforms following the January 6th insurrection last year.
Users who pre-ordered the app got the software instantly downloaded to their Apple devices.
Many users however complained on Monday that they faced issues creating an account on the service or that they were placed on a waiting list.
The service looks to be modelled on Trump's former favourite social media network, Twitter, but it is based on the open source platform Mastodon.
Trump was banned from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube last year, following attack on the US Capitol by his supporters. Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol building while lawmakers were attempting to tally votes for the election.
The former US president was also accused of posting comments on Twitter encouraging violence.
Truth Social has reportedly been in beta since December. On Feb 15th, Trump's son Donald Trump Jr posted what he termed as Donald Trump's first post on the new social media platform: "Get Ready! Your favourite President will see you soon!"
Last week, Reuters reported that around 500 people had begun using an early version of the app.
According to The Verge, individual postings on Truth Social are referred to as "Truths", and are shown to users on a "Truth Feed." When a person comes across a "Truth" they wish to share with their followers, they can "ReTruth" it. Support for direct messaging, as well as user authentication, are also in the works, according to the platform's chief product officer.
The service is owned by Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the media firm that Trump founded after leaving the White House. TMTG is run by former Republican congressman Devin Nunes, who quit to become the chief executive of the company.
"This week we will begin to roll out on the Apple App Store. That's going to be awesome, because we're going to get so many more people that are going to be on the platform," Nunes said in an interview on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo".
"Our goal is, I think we're going to hit it, I think by the end of March we're going to be fully operational at least within the United States," he added.
An official launch date for the service's Android app has yet to be disclosed. Truth Social's website states that it will be available "soon" on the Google Play Store.
According to the App Store, Truth Social has already received one update for "bug fixes", and is presently at version 1.0.1.
Truth Social bills itself as a 'big tent' social-media platform that supports an open, free, and honest global dialogue without discriminating against political ideology.
Nunes said that Truth Social will be a "censorship-free experience". However, the site's terms of service state that users will be banned if they "disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site."
The new app is yet another example of an alternative social networking app, similar to Parler, Rumble and Gettr, that conservatives have flocked to due to censorship concerns. Twitter and Facebook have long denied that they deliberately censor conservative material on their platforms. However, users don't always agree with how the firms interpret their rules when it comes to hate speech and promoting violence.
Twitter chief Jack Dorsey said last year that banning Donald Trump from the social media platform was the "right decision" although he added that it sets a "dangerous" precedent.
He also described the decision as a "failure" by Twitter to ultimately create a platform that could sustain civil discourse and healthy discussions. Dorsey accepted that such harsh decisions come with "real and significant ramifications" - specifically for a free and open internet.