Former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social app came out swinging. The social media answer to Trump’s own lifetime ban from Twitter, Truth Social surged to the No. 1 downloaded app on Apple’s App Store within about a day of launching. Investors in the blank-check company that plans to merge with Trump’s media company also saw surging profits, with the stock up double-digit percentage points on Tuesday.
The surprise launch of the new social media app came with growing pains, in part because of overwhelming demand. Users reported multiple error messages creating accounts the first day and those who waited more than a day are faced with a growing waitlist of hundreds of thousands of users.
When this reporter created an account Wednesday morning, Truth Social told me I was on a waitlist with 568,008 users ahead of me.
“Due to massive demand, we have placed you on our waitlist,” the notice read. “We love you, and you’re not just another number to us. But your waitlist number is below.”
Truth Social CEO and former GOP Rep. Devin Nunes had previously warned the app would be fully operational by the end of March.
Truth Social is pitched as a free-speech alternative to Big Tech’s censorship, but some users are reporting being banned from or censored on the site.
This is censorship. pic.twitter.com/Ih6odqlsJh
— Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) February 22, 2022
Matt Ortega said he was kicked off for violating Truth Social community guidelines in his creation of the account @DevinNunesCow. His profile sported the same username as a parody Twitter account making fun of Truth Social’s CEO. In fact, Nunes had previously tried to sue Twitter over defamatory comments made about him by the satirical account pretending to be his cow, but a judge tossed the lawsuit.
And a right-wing commentator announced on Telegram, another social media and messaging app, that he was slapped with a “sensitive content” warning on Truth Social for saying government officials “should be put on trial and executed” over the COVID-19 vaccine.