Truth Social, Donald Trump's new social media venture, has launched on Apple's App store, more than a year after the former US President was banned from many of the major social networks for his role in inciting the January 6 insurrection on the US Capitol
The app was downloaded onto the iOS devices of users who pre-ordered it, but some users were told they would have to wait "due to massive demand", with the waiting list now having grown to more than 150,000.
Trump was banned from Twitter, of which he had been a prolific user before and during his presidency, Facebook and Google following the riots on Capitol Hill led by his supporters in the belief that Joe Biden had falsely been claimed the victor in the November 2020 election.
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the venture behind Truth Social, is the latest nascent social media platform to position itself as a haven for self-styled champions of free speech dismayed by the hate speech policies on mainstream platforms.
"This week we will begin to roll out on the Apple App Store. That's going to be awesome, because we're going to get so many more people that are going to be on the platform," Devin Nunes, former Republican US congressman and CEO of TMTG, said on Fox News on Sunday.
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"Our goal is, I think we're going to hit it, I think by the end of March we're going to be fully operational at least within the United States."
On Friday, Nunes posted on the app urging users who had been invited to use it during a test phase to follow more accounts, share photos and videos, and participate in conversations, even encouraging a user who appeared to be a Catholic priest to invite other priests to join.
TMTG is planning to list in New York through a merger with blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), and it stands to receive the $293m (€258.4m) in cash that DWAC holds in a rest, assuming no shareholders redeem their shares.
Additionally, in December TMTG raised $1bn (€880m) committed financing from private investors; that money also will not be available until the DWAC deal closes.
Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, last week tweeted what appeared to be his father's first Truth Social post, which said: "Get Ready! Your [favourite] President will see you soon!" Posts on the platform are referred to as 'truths' while amplifications are known as 'retruths'.
It was reported last week that Trump's wife, former US First Lady Melania Trump, was selling another collection of NFTs after the failure of her Head of State collection in January.
(Pic: Getty Images)
