Trump’s Truth Social surges in popularity: What is it, who runs it and who can use it?

Trump app Truth Social will get more users now it is joining Google’s Play Store
Donald Trump leaving Trump Tower on August 10 for a deposition
AP
Lola Christina Alao13 October 2022

Donald Trump’s social media app, Truth Social, has been approved by Google for distribution through its Play Store.

The app has been available on the Apple App Store since February but Google had had concerns about insufficient moderation.

Since the FBI began investigating the former US president, downloads of Truth Social from the Apple App Store rose significantly, from 76th most popular to 15th.

On Monday August 8, the FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, because the Department of Justice suspected the former president may have committed a crime. The search was part of a full investigation into whether Mr Trump improperly handled government records by taking them from the White House to Mar-a-Lago.

This is prohibited, and US presidents must transfer all their documents and emails to a government agency called the National Archives.

Earlier this year, that agency revealed Mr Trump had 15 boxes of papers in his Mar-a-Lago home, which he should have handed over when he left the White House. It said they included classified information and asked the justice department to investigate.

But what is Truth Social? Here’s everything you need to know about Donald Trump’s social network.

What is Donald Trump’s app, Truth Social?

We know that Mr Trump is a big fan of posting his thoughts on the internet. Before his Twitter account was removed, he would often go on angry rants for all his 90 million followers to see. An archive of his past tweets revealed that Mr Trump tweeted more than 30 times a day on average by the end of his time in office.

Mr Trump describes the app as a platform created to “stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech”. It was launched on February 21, 2022, though many people were on a waiting list and could not sign up until late April.

Posts on the app are called “Truths". Each “Truth" in a user's feed has a comments section and can be “re-Truthed” or liked, mirroring Twitter interactions.

Who runs Truth Social?

Truth Social is run by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which was formed in February 2021 by Donald Trump. The company also uses the name T Media Tech LLC in some places. Former US Rep Devin Nunes has been the organisation’s CEO since January.

The other company involved is Digital World Acquisition Corp, a publicly traded special-purpose acquisition company founded by Miami banker Patrick Orlando.

The two entities have entered into a merger agreement in order to make TMTG a publicly traded company, but the combined entity has been under Securities and Exchange Commission investigation for potentially skirting laws.

The company is also working to launch a news network named TMTG News and a video-streaming service named TMTG+.

Who can access Truth Social?

Now, in addition to iPhone users, anyone using the Android OS will be able to sign up for Truth Social and download it.

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