Who could have predicted this?
Donald Trump's social media app, Truth Social, launched today and it's safe to say it's got off to a shaky start.
We reported on his
foray into the world of social media last year when the fledgling platform was little more than an idea; nine months later and the app is live - at least on paper - but those who preordered are struggling to even get on it.
Going up on Apple's App Store late on Sunday, many users have reported either having trouble registering for an account or being added to a waitlist after receiving the following message: "Due to massive demand, we have placed you on our waitlist."
https://twitter.com/JennaEllisEsq/status/1495651453096148993?s=20&t=4xN7Pr8-9ODGAPgxYbuN9A
Select groups, namely those who had pre-ordered ahead of time, had already been able to sample the app whilst it was still in its beta phase - which many said
bore a striking resemblance to Twitter (you know, the one he was kicked off of) - and included a phase which allowed for the
censoring of images using artificial intelligence.
As for the more general reaction, the consensus seems to be that the packaging could use some work; for instance, making a new logo that doesn't look almost identical to a British business:
https://twitter.com/z3dster/status/1495633651698221058?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1495633651698221058%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-30631448051463994715.ampproject.net%2F2202042210001%2Fframe.html
Led by former Republican representative Devin Nunes, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) - the venture behind Truth Social - is marketed as a "free speech" alternative to social media.
However, people are running into the problem of having to accept a terms of service agreement before they've even got on the site full stop.
https://twitter.com/Anjeew/status/1495704773756133379?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1495704773756133379%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-30631448051463994715.ampproject.net%2F2202042210001%2Fframe.html
As per Reuters, the holding company is listed as a New York business thanks to a merger with blank-check firm Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) and stands to receive $293m in cash through a DWAC trust. Additionally, back in in December, TMTG raised $1bn in financing through private investors.
Trump is almost certainly going to chuck lots of money at this thing but that doesn't take away from its poor reception thus far. For added context, the app has barely gone live (well, it hasn't) and it's already got its own parody account:
https://twitter.com/TheTruthSocial/status/1493757855312199680?s=20&t=4xN7Pr8-9ODGAPgxYbuN9A
As if its version of retweets - dubbed 're-truths' - wasn't parody enough, the technical issues on launch day aren't the only practical hiccup the company has faced.
In fact, the app was actually
hacked before it even went live, with trolls creating fake accounts for the disgraced former president and his then vice president
Mike Pence within minutes of its official announcement on October 21, 2021.
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