Former US President Donald Trump’s social media app ‘Truth Social’ has received the thumbs-up from Alphabet Inc.’s Google for distribution in the Play Store.
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which operates Truth Social, is expected to make the app available in the Google Play Store shortly, Google said on Wednesday.
Truth Social, which launched in the United States in the Apple App Store in February, had not previously been available in the Google Play Store due to insufficient content moderation, according to a Google spokesman in August.
Learn how you can advance your use of the latest social media trends in our Social Media for Gov Summit!
Without the Google and Apple stores, there is no easy way for most smartphone users to download Truth Social. Android phones comprise about 40 per cent of the US smartphone market.
Truth Social restored Trump’s presence on social media more than a year after he was banned from Twitter Inc, Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube following the January 6, 2021 US Capitol riots, after he was accused of posting messages inciting violence.
Related: Kanye’s Twitter, Instagram accounts restricted for anti-Semitism (commsroom.co)
TMTG has pledged to deliver an “engaging and censorship-free experience” on Truth Social, appealing to a base that feels its views around such hot-button topics such as the outcome of the 2020 presidential election have been scrubbed from mainstream tech platforms.
News of Google’s approval was first reported by Axios.
With AAP. (Content has been tweaked for length and style.)
Jaw de Guzman is the content producer for Comms Room, a knowledge platform and website aimed at assisting the communications industry and its professionals.
