SAN FRANCISCO | Donald Trump’s new social network, “Truth Social”, which began its gradual online launch, aroused great enthusiasm on Monday but was plagued by technical problems.
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The mobile app, which was supposed to be fully functional by the end of March, more than a year after the former US president was banned from major platforms, topped the most downloaded free programs from the online store. Apple in the United States.
A few hours after the launch of “Truth Social” on the American App Store, many users, including AFP journalists, however indicated that they did not yet have access to the social network.
The following message was displayed on the screen of some smartphones: “Due to massive demand, we have placed you on a waiting list. We love you and you are not just a number to us.”
Other users who had pre-ordered the application failed to complete their registration, receiving an error message during the final step.
On the other hand, personalities close to Mr. Trump, who had access to a test version of the application even before its launch, were present on the platform.
This is the case of Republican elected official Marjorie Taylor Greene, familiar with conspiracy theories, who published screenshots of her first messages on “Truth Social” on Sunday, whose appearance is deceptively similar to that from Twitter.
“As the only congresswoman whose personal Twitter account has been banned, I know what millions of conservatives have had to endure when they have had their freedom of speech stolen by tech giants because they didn’t want to foolishly repeat the authorized speeches, ”she tweeted from her elected account.
“TRUTH”
“Truth Social” – truth means “truth” in English – was presented by Donald Trump as an alternative to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, from which he was banned after the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He is accused of inciting his supporters to violence.
“It’s touching for me to see people who have seen their voices muzzled using the platform”, greeted Devin Nunes, the boss of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of the new network, interviewed on Sunday on the channel FoxNews.
“The time for Truth has come,” tweeted Donald Trump Junior, the ex-president’s son, on Tuesday, with a screenshot of a message from his father on the network: “Be prepared! Your favorite president will soon receive you”.
“Truth Social” launched on February 21, a holiday in the United States honoring American presidents.
suspense
At 75, Donald Trump leaves doubts about his intention to run again, or not, for the Republican nomination in the race for the White House.
He is under investigation over his handling of his taxes, how he allegedly tried to stay in power after his defeat in November 2020. His handling of official documents that should have been passed to the US National Archives is also called into question.
Before the deletion of his Twitter account, the social network was Donald Trump’s favorite platform, which he used in turn to make presidential announcements and to formulate attacks against his political enemies. He had nearly 89 million subscribers there, whom he spoke to every day.
According to various press releases, Trump Media & Technology Group has about $1.25 billion to attack its competitors in the already very crowded market of social networks popular with ultra-conservatives, such as Gettr, launched in early July by Donald Trump’s former adviser, Jason Miller, but also Parler and Gab.
In December, TMTG announced that it had entered into a partnership with the Canadian video streaming platform Rumble, stating that the beta version had already been launched using their cloud service (remote computing).