Donald Trump’s ‘Truth Social’ App Emerges For Beta Testing

The effort by former President Donald Trump to regain his online presence has moved one step closer this week.

Reuters reported that Trump’s ‘Truth Social’ app, where supporters can “follow the truth”, is currently being used by 500 beta testers.

The beta testers are reportedly using an early version of the platform, but it supposedly has a striking resemblance to Twitter, Trump’s favoured tech outlet before and during his presidency.

Truth social

It was back in October 2021, when Trump confirmed his plans to launch a social networking platform.

At the time he said the new platform would be called ‘Truth Social’ and it was being created “to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech.”

The new platform is being created by a company he formed, called Trump Media & Technology Group (T Media Tech LLC).

The platform has pledged to deliver an “engaging and censorship-free experience” on the app, which chief executive Devin Nunes has said will launch by the end of March (earlier reports had suggested it would be available for download from 21 February).

The app’s arrival comes after Trump was banned from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for his role in inciting a mob of his supporters to storm the US Capitol building on Wednesday 6 January 2021, which resulted in the deaths of five people (including one police officer who was beaten to death).

Five police officers have died in connection with the Capital attack – four of them subsequently took their own lives.

Approximately 140 police officers were injured in the attack.

But Trump refuses to accept responsibility for his role and actions, and instead with the Truth Social app, he wishes 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.”

Twitter clone?

Comments from beta testers this week have suggested the platform bears a striking resemblance to Twitter.

Liz Willis, a correspondent and vice-president of operations at Right Side Broadcasting Network, told Reuters she received an email on Tuesday stating that “T Media Tech LLC has invited you to test Truth Social.”

Willis was able to download the app on her iPhone through the beta testing site TestFlight, the Apple-owned product that developers use prior to launching their apps in the App Store.

Users have been posting on this version of Truth Social for the past 24 hours, Willis said Wednesday morning.

Truth Social allows users to post and share a “truth” the same way they would with a tweet. There are no ads, according to Willis and a second source familiar with TMTG.

It seems that users of the app can choose who they follow and the feed is a mix of individual posts and an RSS-like news feed. They will be alerted if someone mentions or begins following them.

There will also reportedly be a direct messaging option in the future.

By late Wednesday, Donald Trump’s account on Truth Social had 317 followers, according to a screenshot viewed by Reuters.

It should be remembered that Trump had 88 million followers before Twitter banned him.

Trump’s account shows one “truth” posted three days ago, verified at the account of @realDonaldTrump with a red check and with the message: “Get Ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!”

Legal actions

Trump spend much of last year repeatedly lashing out against his ongoing bans on major social networking platforms, and sued Twitter and Google.

He asked a US judge to order Twitter to restore his account, arguing that Twitter’s permanent ban violates Florida’s ‘deplatforming law’, which prevents social media platforms from banning politicians.

So far the Trump bans and suspensions by major tech platforms remain in place.

Trump had tried, and failed, to successfully launch his own platform after he left office in January 2021.

Faced with an ongoing social media ban, Trump last year launched his own website to publish content ‘straight from the desk’ of the former president.

But after only one month of operation, Donald Trump closed down that website.