Truth Social facts for kids
Logo used since February 2022
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Type of site
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Social networking service |
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| Available in | English and Portuguese |
| Founded | October 20, 2021 in Sarasota, Florida |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Owner | Trump Media & Technology Group |
| Founder(s) |
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| CEO | Devin Nunes |
| Registration | Required |
| Users | estimated 607,000 monthly users (as of July 2023) |
| Launched | February 21, 2022 |
| Current status | Active |
| Native client(s) on | |
| Written in |
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Truth Social (stylized as TRUTH Social) is a social media platform. It is owned by a company called Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). This company is mostly owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump.
Truth Social is often compared to Twitter. It aims to be an alternative to popular platforms like Twitter and Facebook. The service officially started on February 21, 2022.
Contents
What is Truth Social?
Truth Social is a place where people can share their thoughts and connect online. It's like other social media sites you might know. Users can post messages and share posts from others.
Who runs Truth Social?
Truth Social is run by Trump Media & Technology Group. The company's leader is Devin Nunes, a former politician. The main office for Truth Social is in Sarasota, Florida. In March 2022, the company had about 40 employees.
How does the software work?
Truth Social looks and feels a lot like Twitter. Users can create posts, which are called "Truths." They can also share other users' posts, which are called "ReTruths."
The platform uses a special version of a free software called Mastodon. This software helps run the website behind the scenes. Truth Social changed Mastodon a bit, so some features like polls are not available.
Truth Social also uses another software called Soapbox for what you see on the screen. The company has looked for developers who know programming languages like Elixir.
There was a time when Truth Social was asked to share its software code. This was because of the rules of the Mastodon software it uses. Truth Social later made its source code available online.
You can use Truth Social in a web browser or as an app on your phone. It works on both Android and iOS (Apple) devices.
- In May 2022, a web version was launched. This lets you use Truth Social through an Internet browser.
- In August 2022, Google said Truth Social needed to improve how it handles content. This was to meet Google's rules about preventing threats and violence. By October 2022, Truth Social added stronger rules for content. After that, it was approved for Google Play, where Android apps are found.
How is it built?
Truth Social first used a company called RightForge for its internet hosting. This company focuses on hosting for conservative groups.
Later, TMTG partnered with Rumble, an online video platform. Rumble started providing cloud services for Truth Social. In April 2022, Truth Social moved fully to Rumble's cloud platform. They also worked to make the platform faster.
Truth Social uses a company called Hive for content moderation. Hive uses machine learning (a type of artificial intelligence) to find and filter out bad content.
As of June 2022, Truth Social uses Cloudflare. This company helps deliver content quickly to users around the world.
How Truth Social started
Launching the platform
Donald Trump made his first post on Truth Social on February 16, 2022. The CEO, Devin Nunes, thought the platform would be fully open by late March. Before that, about 500 users tested the app.
On February 21, 2022, Truth Social was released for Apple devices. It quickly became the number one app in the App Store. Many people tried to sign up, but about 500,000 users were put on a waiting list.
In its first week, the app was installed 872,000 times. However, a month later, new sign-ups dropped to about 60,000 per week. Visits to the website also decreased.
Some people criticized the app for not working well at first. Users on the waiting list had trouble signing up. There were also times when the app stopped working. The Washington Post called the launch "a disaster." Some early users started to lose interest because there weren't many people using it yet.
Growing its audience
Truth Social had problems growing its user base when it first launched. This limited how many people could join.
In early March 2022, reports showed that Truth Social was not being used much. Donald Trump himself had not posted since his first message. His account had far fewer followers than he had on Twitter before he was banned.
By the end of March 2022, weekly app installations had dropped a lot. Visits to the website also went down. In early April 2022, Business Insider described Truth Social as "like a conservative ghost town." Many people were still on the waiting list to join.
In April 2022, the chief of technology and chief of product development left the company. A report in The Washington Post said Truth Social was "falling apart."
As of late April 2022, Truth Social had about 513,000 active daily users. This was much less than Twitter, which had 217 million active daily users. By August 2022, Donald Trump had 3.9 million followers on Truth Social. This was less than the 89 million he had on Twitter.
In June 2022, the Truth Social app was ranked #49 in social networking apps on the Apple App Store. By October 2022, it had dropped to #75.
How many people use it?
Truth Media has not shared exact user numbers. However, a company called SimilarWeb estimated that Truth Social had about 5 million visitors per month in February 2024. They also estimated about 1 million active users in the U.S. each month.
On March 25, 2024, the day TMTG's stock started trading publicly, Truth Social had 277,000 U.S. visitors. In comparison, Reddit had 32 million visitors that day.
By April 2024, the daily average of active users in the U.S. for Truth Social had dropped. Truth Media says it does not track typical numbers like daily visitors or how much money it makes per user. They say these numbers "might not align" with the company's best interests.
Elon Musk and Twitter
When Elon Musk bought Twitter, many people thought it might affect Truth Social. Musk said that Truth Social only existed because Twitter had rules about free speech. He also joked that Truth Social should be called "Trumpet."
After Musk's comments, the Truth Social app became more popular. It went back to being the number one free app on Apple's App Store on April 30.
Musk later said he would allow Donald Trump's account back on Twitter. However, Donald Trump said he preferred to use Truth Social as his main platform. He did not post on Twitter again for almost a year after his ban was lifted.
See also
- List of social networking services
- Social media use by Donald Trump
