Donald Trump’s Social Media Truth social media launch began on the Apple App Store on Sunday, marking the return of the former president to social media after being banned from several forums last year.
The app was set to be downloaded shortly before midnight and was downloaded directly by Apple users who had already ordered the app. It was the first free app on the App Store early Monday.
Some users have trouble signing up or have been added to the waiting list.
The app is designed for people who are invited to use it on a trial basis, Reuters reported earlier.
Trump was banned from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube after he was charged with posting provocative messages in the United States on January 2021.
Led by former Republican Rep. Daven Nuns, the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) joins a portfolio of technology companies that hope to attract self-proclaimed and independent consumers to a truly social backbone. They will be banned from more established forums.
So far, none of the new companies, including Twitter competitors Getter and Parler and video channel Rumble, have matched the popularity of their key partners.
“We will be releasing it on the Apple App Store this week. That will be great, because we will have a lot of people on stage,” Nunus told Maria Batiromo at Fox News on Sunday morning about the future.
“I think our goal is to hit, I think at the end of March we will be fully operational in the United States,” he added.
The first official version of the app, version 1.0, was released a day ago, according to a Reuters report. Current version 1.0.1 includes “bug fixes” according to the page.
On Friday, Nuns was on the app urging users to follow more tags, share photos and videos and participate in conversations, which is an attempt to hide activity, said a source familiar with the matter.
In one of his writings, he received a new user who looked like a Catholic priest and encouraged him to join more priests, he said.
Although app details start to get crowded, TMTG is largely kept secret and is viewed with suspicion by some technology and media circles. It is not clear, for example, how the company will fund its growth.
TMTG plans to merge with New World Check Auditing Corporation (DWAC) in New York and DWAC will stop receiving $ 293 million in cash in exchange for DWAC stakeholder shares, TMTG said in a statement. Released last year.
In addition, in December TMTG raised $ 1bn from private investors. That money will not be available until the DWAC agreement closes.
Digital World activities have been monitored by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and the deal is expected to close in a few months.