According to two sources telling Reuters, details about former U.S. President Donald Trump's new social media app are trickling out as about 500 beta testers have begun using an early version of “Truth Social”.
The testing of Truth Social comes a year after Trump was banned from Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet's YouTube. Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) is his new media and technology venture that has pledged to deliver an “engaging and censorship-free experience” on the app. The app. According to Chief Executive Devin Nunes, it will launch by the end of March.
TMTG remains shrouded in secrecy and is regarded with skepticism by some in tech and media circles. It remains unclear whether the app's goal of freedom of expression can co-exist with Apple's and Google's app store policies.
Liz Willis, a correspondent and vice president of operations at Right Side Broadcasting Network, told Reuters she received an email Tuesday stating that “T Media Tech LLC has invited you to test Truth Social.” Wayne Dupree, founder of WayneDupree.com and host of a conservative podcast, is also among the app's beta testers.
By late Wednesday, Trump's account on Truth Social had 317 followers, according to a screenshot viewed by Reuters. Trump had 88 million followers before Twitter banned him.
Truth Social allows users to post and share a “truth” the same way they would do so with a tweet. There are no ads, according to Willis and a second source familiar with TMTG.
Users 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.
According to a screenshot, the app says that “A new direct messaging experience will be available soon. Please stay tuned.”
Trump’s account shows one “truth” that he 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!”
Donald Trump Jr on Twitter highlighted his father's first post on Truth Social.
TMTG released an updated version, “Truth Social 0.9,” Wednesday morning. It is testing for bug fixes for “re-truths,” which is what it calls a retweet, “image aspect ratios and compression, improved error handling and account creation.”
If a tester sees anything that they don't like, they can screenshot it and report it to the developers.
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