Trump's social network is now available for download: what is Truth Social

Donald Trump-backed alternative social media platform Truth Social went live on Feb. 21 and became available for download on the Apple App Store, but access to the service is limited for now. CNN.

Photo: Shutterstock

The Twitter-like app, known as Truth Social, is owned by Trump Media and Technology Group, the media company Trump founded after leaving the White House.

Users who downloaded the app on the morning of February 21 were greeted with a message inviting them to sign up for the service, but the registration process ended up with a waiting list to access the platform that has already grown to over 150 people.

The app's debut on the app store shows Trump trying to get back on social media a year after he was banned from several major platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

On the subject: Accounting firm refuses to continue working with Trump because it questions his financial records for 9 years

Last week, Trump's son Donald Jr tweeted what turned out to be Trump's first post on Truth Social: "Ready! Your beloved president will see you soon!” Messages on the platform are called "truths" and messages that are shared are called "retruths".

Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman who stepped down to become CEO of Trump's media company, said last week that Truth Social expects to be "fully operational" by the end of March, when "anyone will be able to access the platform in the United States in any time".

The Trump app joins a growing system of conservative-targeted digital products such as Rumble, Parler, Gettr and other services that have emerged as alternatives to mainstream social media.

But some have run into problems: Parler was removed from the Apple and Google app stores last year, for example, amid allegations that participants in the January 6 riots used the platform to incite violence.

What is Truth Social

Why does Trump need his own social network? Just look at the number of his (former) followers. Before his Twitter account was deleted, Trump had almost 90 million followers, and his Facebook has 34 million followers, which is also blocked until at least January 2023, reports PCMag.

If there's one thing Trump loved before and during his presidency, it's posting online. According to an archive of his past tweets, Trump averaged more than 30 times a day by the end of his term in office. After being banned, he returned to the Internet with a short-lived blog posting Twitter-style updates.

Trump believes that instead of walking away from the millions of people who hang on his every word, he can take control of the conversation and move those followers to "Social Truth". If he can get even a small percentage of people to follow him, this experiment will be successful for him.

Of course, money is also a big motivator, whether it's a big investment in a company or another way to get small donations from subscribers.

Who runs Truth Social

There are two organizations behind Truth Social. The first is the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), created in February 2021 by Donald Trump. In some places, the company also uses the name T Media Tech LLC. As of January 2022, the organization's CEO is former U.S. Rep. Devin Nunez.

Another company involved is Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), founded by Miami banker Patrick Orlando. The two companies entered into a merger agreement to make TMTG a public company. However, the combined company is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for possible violations of securities laws.

TMTG's plan, as a public company, will be to offer alternatives to mainstream media and social media. In addition to Truth Social, the company is also working on launching a news network called TMTG News and a video streaming service known as TMTG+. All three products are aimed at a conservative audience.

Who Needs Truth Social

This platform was not intended to replace mainstream services such as Twitter or Facebook. Rather, it is another platform not for content moderation or accessibility.

Platforms like these have popped up over the years in an attempt to reach out to the alt-right, extreme right, extremist and fringe groups. These spaces, such as Gab, Parler and Telegram, have fought for the right to exist with varying degrees of success. Even former Trump political adviser Jason Miller created his own right-wing social platform called Gettr back when Truth Social was just a rumor, but the platform has its problems. Truth Social has officially partnered with Rumble, a video platform popular with the far right.

In an initial statement about his platform, Trump said there would be no "shadow ban, throttling, demonetization, or interference with political manipulation algorithms" in Truth Social.

"We won't silence our fellow citizens just because they might be wrong, or worse, because we think Americans 'can't stand the truth,'" Trump said. Notably, however, the site's terms of service say that your account can be suspended if you make fun of the platform.

Truth Social is undoubtedly made for people who use these competing platforms, as well as those who once followed Trump on Twitter and Facebook.

Truth Social bears more than a passing resemblance to Twitter, but that's not just because Twitter was Trump's platform of choice. Truth Social was created using an open source license from Mastodon, which was originally created as an alternative to Twitter.

After a test version of Truth Social was released in October 2021, it was found that Truth Social was simply using a tweaked version of the Mastodon 3.0 theme. Most of the functionality of the service is identical to Twitter.

What is Mastodon

Mastodon is an open source decentralized microblogging platform. It is based on the ActivityPub protocol, which allows multiple independently running servers to communicate with each other and with other ActivityPub services. This network of interconnected servers is abbreviated as Fediverse, of which Mastodon is a part.

In practice, this means that someone using the "official" and largest Mastodon server, mastodon.social, can view messages and interact with users on the infosec.exchange server and others. They can even follow users' posts on the social image-sharing platform Pixelfed.

Mastodon also pays a lot of attention to content moderation and accessibility. Individuals and servers can block users and entire domains, and message text is often unsearchable.

With 4,4 million users, Mastodon is tiny compared to centralized advertising services like Facebook or Twitter. But it has performed surprisingly well as an open source underdog. In 2021, the company launched its first official iOS app and plans are underway to release an Android app. Thanks to the news generated by Truth Social, more attention is likely to be drawn to the open source social network.

Why Mastodon threatened to sue Truth Social

Truth Social is based on Mastodon, and that's perfectly acceptable. Mastodon's open source license allows developers to use, modify and distribute their software as they see fit. However, those using this license - the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0) - must report that their project is based on Mastodon. They must also make the code and any modifications publicly available for download.

The original Truth Social website did not mention his association with Mastodon, and did not make any source code available. In fact, the platform claimed that its source code was owned by the company. Seeing this as a potential copyright infringement, Mastodon threatened to sue if Trump did not comply within 30 days.

To avoid this lawsuit, Truth Social admitted that it was based on Mastodon. Now, if you go to the Truth Social website, you can click Legal Docs at the bottom of the page and select Open Source to download the ZIP file containing the Mastodon source code.

How to sign up for Truth Social

The beta test for the iOS app was supposed to start in November 2021, but invitations were sent out this month alone to about 500 people, according to Reuters. Starting February 21, you can download the iOS app from the App Store. According to the Truth Social website, the Android version is "coming soon". When registering, you will be asked to provide an email address and phone number.

Will it be safe to join Truth Social

Although Truth Social is built on the Mastodon code, it can be configured to not interact with other Fediverse services.

Mastodon also has powerful filtering, moderation and blocking tools built in and available to both administrators and users. They may not be available in Truth Social.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants, and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York.

For more information about Truth Social's security, see its documentation. The Privacy Policy, for example, often mentions the roles of advertising and third-party advertisers. While it's unclear what impact this will have on privacy, monetization is clearly a priority. As mentioned, Truth Social's Terms of Service prohibit anything that may "slander, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the site."

On the Truth Social iPhone app page, most of the detailed description is about Truth Social's ambition to be a "big tent" social media platform. A metaphorical wedding is described with libertarian, conservative and even liberal guests, but they all have a good time in a large tent. However, laissez-faire in content moderation and the already established association with far-right ideology make it doubtful that Truth Social is destined to become a bastion of high discourse.

It may be instructive to look at other far-right social networks with a similar stance. The Southern Poverty Alleviation Center says that Gab "Known for hosting white supremacist content." BBC said about Speak: "This is the place for many posts that would either be flagged as misleading or removed by major platforms - on topics like elections, COVID-19, child trafficking and vaccines."

Similarly, some far-right websites have struggled with hacks. Gab was hacked and the attacker leaked 70 GB of user data. Parler had a serious security vulnerability that allowed hackers to download and distribute almost all of its public content. And one hacker previously gained access to the Truth Social website, causing other people to prematurely join the service.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Americans in Russia urged to be extra careful and asked not to go to crowded places

How to Handle Money Properly: 21 Tips from a Harvard Professor

What are the differences and how do the US airport fast track security programs work?

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.