People trying to log onto former President Donald Trump‘s new social media venture, Truth Social, are already reporting problems including receiving error messages and being put on a lengthy waitlist.
Trump’s social media venture launched late last night on Apple’s app store, marking the former president’s return to social media after he was banned from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube last year.
His return comes as the U.S. marks Presidents’ Day.
The app was available to download shortly before midnight ET and was automatically downloaded to Apple devices belonging to users who had put in pre-orders.
It’s not available on Android phones yet.
Online, users reported a buggy process when trying to sign up.
DailyMail.com’s own reporters received error messages on the page when users are to enter their birthdates and on the email verification page.
On Twitter, potential users posted screengrabs of their place in the long waitlist.
Trump’s social platform should be ‘fully operational’ by late March according to Trump Media & Technology Group Chief Executive Devin Nunes, the former California congressman.
DailyMail.com’s own reporters received error messages on the page to enter a users birthdate (left) and on the email verification page (right)
Former President Donald Trump’s new social media venture, Truth Social, launched late last night on Apple’s App Store, marking the former president’s return to social media after he was banned from several platforms last year (app is seen on a smartphone screen before a picture of the former president)
Ric Grenell, who served as acting Director of National Intelligence during Trump’s one term in office, urged patience with the sign-up process.
‘They are limiting the number of signups per day at first – so be patient and sign up early,’ he tweeted Monday. ‘No more silencing our voices!’
Truth Social is Trump’s alternative social media site meant to combat Big Tech companies like Facebook and Twitter, which he utilized throughout his presidency but now complains censors conservatives and right-leaning voices and perspectives.
Trump was booted from Twitter shortly after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot as he continued to push claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential race.
Nunes has also been banned from the platform for the last two years.
‘It’s actually very moving for me to see people that are on [Truth Social] that have had their voice canceled,’ Nunes said.
Truth Social’s app store page detailing its version history showed the first public version of the app, or version 1.0, was available last night for free.
The current version 1.0.1 includes ‘bug fixes,’ according to the page.
Former President Donald Trump was booted from Twitter shortly after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot as he continued to push claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential race
Devin Nunes said yesterday that Donald Trump’s Truth Social will be fully operational by the end of March
Truth Social is former President Trump’s alternative social media site meant to combat Big Tech companies like Facebook and Twitter, which he claimed through his presidency and now silences and censors conservative and right-leaning voices and perspectives
TMTG’s team is branding Truth as a First Amendment platform that will not censor voices just because they disagree.
There is excitement surrounding the launch, Nunes said, from people who were ‘booted from social media for the last two or three years.’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who can no longer use her personal Twitter account, tweeted from her Congressional handle on Sunday that she had signed up for Truth Social.
Greene got kicked off of Twitter in January for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
Parler and Gettr are two other sites that have branded themselves as less moderated alternatives to Big Tech companies.
Gettr was launched and is run by former Trump spokesperson Jason Miller.
When Trump started promoting Parler after the January 6 attack as a good alternative to Twitter, Apple took it down from its App Store in January 2021.
The application made a return to the store in May of last year.
But so far none of these social media alternatives have come close to matching the popularity of their mainstream counterparts.
Before being banned by Twitter, Trump had some 89 million followers there and used the platform constantly, both for presidential statements and to attack rivals.
The 75-year-old has hinted but never definitively said whether he will seek the presidency again.
Nunes was a congressman for California’s 21st district from 2003-2013 and the 22nd district from 2013 until present day. But he is ending his tenure in the House of Representatives at the end of this year as he joins TMTG as its CEO.
During Trump’s presidency, Nunes was chairman and then ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. He was on track to continue toward more leadership positions among Republicans in Congress but opted to join Trump’s social media company instead.
‘We want (customers) to tell us what they would like to have on the platform, which is the opposite of some Silicon Valley tech oligarch freak telling people what they want to think and deciding who can or cannot be on the platform,’ he said.
‘I mean, we’re really taking just the opposite approach, which is valuing our customers.’
Donald Trump Jr. (right) celebrated on Twitter, posting, ‘Time for some Truth!!!’ and including what he said was his father’s first post on Truth Social: ‘Get Ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!’
‘TRUTH is coming…’ congresswoman Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, tweeted Friday, in an allusion to the ominous ‘Winter is coming’ catchphrase of television series ‘Game of Thrones.’
She posted a screen grab of her message on Truth Beta, the test version of the new site, saying, ‘I’m so excited to be on TRUTH!’
And Donald Trump Jr. celebrated on Twitter, posting, ‘Time for some Truth!!!’ and including what he said was his father’s first post on Truth Social: ‘Get Ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!’
TMTG remains mostly shrouded in secrecy and is regarded with skepticism by some in tech and media circles. It is unclear, for example, how the company is funding its current growth.
TMTG is planning to list in New York through a merger with blank-check firm Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) and stands to receive $293 million in cash that DWAC holds in a trust, assuming no DWAC shareholder redeems their shares, TMTG said in an Oct. 21 press release.
Additionally, in December TMTG raised $1 billion committed financing from private investors; that money also will not be available until the DWAC deal closes.
Digital World’s activities have come under scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, according to a regulatory filing, and the deal is likely months away from closing.
First published in Daily Trust, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10535527/Trumps-new-platform-Truth-Social-riddled-error-messages.html?ito=push-notification&ci=pLAb_eJXzx&cri=EnUmTFSUt3&si=WGONBq3EU7vb&xi=9f42082e-1c51-46b2-85e1-ffe769ddf76e&ai=10535527
