• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Politics
  • Health
  • Travel
  • Gay Pride
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Men
  • Space
  • Science
  • Gay Iconography
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Monkeypox
  • Film/TV

Trump’s Truth Social tops downloads on Apple App Store; many waitlisted

Towleroad February 21, 2022 Leave a Comment

Published by
Reuters
496739 origin 1

By Kenneth Li, Julia Love and Helen Coster

(Reuters) -Donald Trump’s new social media venture, Truth Social, launched late on Sunday in Apple’s App Store, potentially marking the former president’s return to social media after he was banned from several platforms last year.

The app was available shortly before midnight ET and was the top free app available on the App Store early Monday. Truth Social was automatically downloaded to Apple Inc devices belonging to users who had pre-ordered the app.

Many users reported either having trouble registering for an account or were added to a waitlist with a message: “Due to massive demand, we have placed you on our waitlist.”

The app has been available for people invited to use it during its test phase, Reuters previously reported.

Trump was banned from Twitter Inc, Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, after he was accused of posting messages inciting violence.

Led by former Republican U.S. Representative Devin Nunes, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the venture behind Truth Social, joins a growing portfolio of technology companies that are positioning themselves as champions of free speech and hope to draw users who feel their views are suppressed on more established platforms.

So far none of the newer companies, which include Twitter competitors Gettr and Parler and video site Rumble, have come close to matching the popularity of their mainstream counterparts.

“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,” Nunes said in a Sunday appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo”.

“Our goal is, I think we’re going to hit it, I think by the by the end of March we’re going to be fully operational at least within the United States,” he added.

Truth Social’s app store page detailing its version history showed the first public version of the app, or version 1.0 was available a day ago, confirming a Reuters report. The current version 1.0.1 includes “bug fixes,” according to the page.

DRUMMING SUPPORT

On Friday, Nunes was on the app urging users to follow more accounts, share photos and videos and participate in conversations, in an apparent attempt to drum up activity, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Among Nunes’ posts, he welcomed a new user who appeared to be a Catholic priest and encouraged him to invite more priests to join, according to the person with knowledge of the matter.

Even as details of the app begin trickling out, 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.

(Reporting by Julia Love in San Francisco and Helen Coster in New York; Additional reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Lincoln Feast and Diane Craft)

Topics: Aaon, towleroad

  • Johnson takes responsibility but won’t quit over lockdown parties

    Johnson takes responsibility but won’t quit over lockdown parties

    Published by Reuters By Elizabeth Piper and Muvija M LONDON (Reuters) -A “humbled” Boris Johnson said he took full responsibility but would not quit after a damning official report on Wednesday detailed a series of illegal …Read More »
  • Exclusive: Biden moves to fill key appellate seat vacated by U.S. Supreme Court’s Jackson

    Exclusive: Biden moves to fill key appellate seat vacated by U.S. Supreme Court’s Jackson

    Published by Reuters By Nate Raymond (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated three women to serve as appellate judges including Florence Pan, who would succeed U.S. Supreme Court-designate Ketanji Brown Jackson on the influential …Read More »
  • Monkeypox vaccine producer says enough supplies are available

    Monkeypox vaccine producer says enough supplies are available

    Published by DPA An illustration photo shows a medical syringe with the word Monkeypox virus in the background. Sufficient supplies of the Imvanex vaccine against monkeypox are available to handle the current outbreak, the producer of …Read More »
  • LGBTQ Community Urges Viewers To Boycott Controversial Comic Ricky Gervais After ‘Anti-Trans’ Jokes

    LGBTQ Community Urges Viewers To Boycott Controversial Comic Ricky Gervais After ‘Anti-Trans’ Jokes

    Published by Radar Online PTNY/©2013 RAMEY PHOTO Ricky Gervais sparked backlash for anti-trans jokes in his new Netflix comedy special, leaving some members of the LGBTQ community outraged. The controversial comic, 60, became a hot topic …Read More »
Previous Post: « Icahn nominates two members to McDonald’s board to challenge pig policy
Next Post: Russia has lists of Ukrainians ‘to be killed or sent to camps’, US warns UN »

Primary Sidebar

News

  • Georgia rebukes Trump over US voter fraud ‘Big Lie’

    Georgia rebukes Trump over US voter fraud ‘Big Lie’

  • Nike halts sales to retailers in Russia

    Nike halts sales to retailers in Russia

  • Shunned! Caitlyn Jenner Denied Invite To Kardashian-Barker Wedding In Italy

    Shunned! Caitlyn Jenner Denied Invite To Kardashian-Barker Wedding In Italy

  • Paranoid Putin! Russian Leader Promotes Bodyguard To Minister Following Predecessor’s Sudden & Mysterious Death

    Paranoid Putin! Russian Leader Promotes Bodyguard To Minister Following Predecessor’s Sudden & Mysterious Death

Break

  • Dyson set to preview new robots to help with tasks at home

    Dyson set to preview new robots to help with tasks at home

  • Elvis fever set to shake Cannes

    Elvis fever set to shake Cannes

  • Battle Of The Billionaires! Elon Musk SLAMS Bill Gates After Article Claims Microsoft Mogul Is Funding Musk’s Critics

    Battle Of The Billionaires! Elon Musk SLAMS Bill Gates After Article Claims Microsoft Mogul Is Funding Musk’s Critics

  • Paula Abdul planning ‘spectacular’ 60th birthday bash

    Paula Abdul planning ‘spectacular’ 60th birthday bash

RSS Partner Links

  • Fleshback: Tom Of Finland
  • OMG, LISTEN TO THIS: Kelly Clarkson drops her cover of Billie Eilish’ ‘Happier Than You’
  • OMG, Heartstopper’s Kit Connor: “I’m comfortable in my sexuality & don’t need to label myself publicly”
  • Leslie Jordan shares funny memories of his mother, Peggy Ann, who passed away at age 86
  • Naked Anime + NYC Shooter Turns Himself In + Texas Shooter Had Body Armor + History's Evil Twinks + MORE! — 12-PACK
  • Birthday Sluts
  • Song of the Day: 'I Belong in Your Arms' by Chairlift
  • Page 1 Roundup (05/25)
  • Weekend Tennis Roundup

Most Recent

  • New York City removes last public phone booth

    New York City removes last public phone booth

  • Johnson takes responsibility but won’t quit over lockdown parties

    Johnson takes responsibility but won’t quit over lockdown parties

  • Exclusive: Biden moves to fill key appellate seat vacated by U.S. Supreme Court’s Jackson

    Exclusive: Biden moves to fill key appellate seat vacated by U.S. Supreme Court’s Jackson

  • Monkeypox vaccine producer says enough supplies are available

    Monkeypox vaccine producer says enough supplies are available

  • LGBTQ Community Urges Viewers To Boycott Controversial Comic Ricky Gervais After ‘Anti-Trans’ Jokes

    LGBTQ Community Urges Viewers To Boycott Controversial Comic Ricky Gervais After ‘Anti-Trans’ Jokes

  • NC Republicans push ban on teachers discussing LGBTQ issues, other rules for schools

    NC Republicans push ban on teachers discussing LGBTQ issues, other rules for schools

  • Bad Bunny refuses to give clothes a gender

    Bad Bunny refuses to give clothes a gender

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Log in