The social network backed by ex-president Donald Trump — ironically, it’s called Truth Social — hit the top of the Apple App Store download rankings for free apps a little over 12 hours after it debuted.
The Twitter-style app invites users to “share your unique opinion” and insists that it is “free from political discrimination.” Trump’s Truth Social launches about a year after the twice-impeached U.S. president was permanently banned from Twitter and several other mainstream internet platforms over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
As of this writing, Truth Social is the highest-ranking free app on the App Store in the U.S. The rest of the Top 10 are: Talking Ben the Dog, HBO Max, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Messenger and Peacock TV. Truth Social also is the No. 1 trending title in the App Store’s “Social Networking” category.
“What makes Truth Social different!? We are a social media platform that is free from political discrimination. Join us and share, communicate, and have fun!” the app’s description reads.
While it seemingly has attracted broad interest, many users who attempted to sign up for Truth Social accounts on Monday (Feb. 21) have reported encountering error messages reading “Something went wrong. Please try again” when they have tried to sign up.
“Apple released the Truth Social application in the App Store at 23:00 20 February,” a message on the Truth Social status page posted at 11:24 p.m. ET Sunday said. “The Truth Social application is online, although user creation is currently rate-limited during our rollout. We will expand capacity over the coming hours to enable more users to join Truth Social.”
It’s not clear whether Trump plans to participate as an active user on Truth Social. Devin Nunes, the former Republican representative who quit Congress to become the CEO of TMTG, said last week on a podcast hosted by Sebastian Gorka (Trump’s ex-deputy national security adviser) that Truth Social will be “fully operational” by the end of March, when “anyone can get on the platform within the United States at any time.”
An Android version of the Truth Social app is apparently in development, but there’s been no ETA on when that might launch. A placeholder on the company’s site says it is “Coming soon” to the Google Play Store.
The company behind the app, Trump Media & Technology Group, previously announced plans for a public rollout in the first quarter of 2022. TMTG has said its mission is to “create a rival to the liberal media consortium and fight back against the ‘Big Tech’ companies of Silicon Valley, which have used their unilateral power to silence opposing voices in America.”
TMTG is set to become a publicly traded entity through a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
In addition to Truth Social, TMTG said it will launch a subscription-streaming service with “non-woke” programming, led by Scott St. John, a former executive producer of shows including “Deal or No Deal” and “America’s Got Talent.”
In describing its “big tent” philosophy, Truth Social includes this description: “Think of a giant outdoor event tent at your best friend’s wedding. Who’s there? The combination of multiple families from all over the United States, and the world. Uncle Jim from Atlanta is a proud libertarian. Aunt Kellie from Texas is a staunch conservative. Your cousin John from California is a die-hard liberal. And guess what? They’re all together to have an amazing time and share their different viewpoints on the world. Although we don’t always agree with each other, we welcome these varied opinions and the robust conversation they bring.”
