Truth Social launches. But why are users complaining about Trump’s ‘free speech’ app?
Former President Donald Trump’s social media platform has sparked a waiting list nearly a half a million users long and a series of glitches after launching on Feb. 21.
Truth Social was made available to those with Apple devices on President’s Day, and it soon topped the App Store chart for free applications by the next morning.
“Let your voice be heard,” the long-awaited app that emphasizes free speech says in its App Store description.
Modeled after Twitter, which Trump has been banned from since January 2021, the application invites users to “share (their) unique opinion by posting a Truth” in a space that’s “free from political discrimination,” according to its description.
“Truths” appear similar to tweets, and users can also share a message from another user by using the “Re-Truth” function.
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However, people attempting to check out the new platform may have to wait a while.
As of Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET, the app had a waitlist nearly 475,000 users long.
“Due to our massive demand, we have placed you on our waitlist,” a message from the platform reads. “We love you, and you’re not just another number to us. But your waitlist number is below.”
“Truthsayers,” as the app’s users are called, who seem to have made it in before the waitlist also experienced glitches trying to explore the platform.
“Love the app but it doesn’t work,” wrote one user who gave the app three stars in their review. “I am 100% down to fight against this corruption and take these elites … down.”
The user also says they have received an error message attempting to log their birthdate to create an account.
“The system won’t actually log me in,” another user wrote. “It seems to declare an error for every action I try to take.”
Truth Social’s status website shows it experienced a “partial outage” for over 13 hours on launch day, but it has not registered any issues on Feb. 22.
A Business Insider reporter noted that it took her five attempts to create an account and log in to the platform on launch day, and she still ended up on the waitlist.
Some users appear to blame Apple for problems logging into the platform.
“I’m sure this isn’t the company’s fault, I’m sure it’s the corrupt liberals at (Apple),” the user, who gave the app four stars, wrote. “It just keeps saying error when I try to create an account.”
Other Truthsayers appear to be pleased with the application, although it is unclear how many have been able to get past the waitlist to use the app.
“About time we got a free speech app,” one user wrote, while bemoaning censorship on Facebook and Instagram.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is among the politicians who joined Truth Social prior to its launch.
“I understand what millions of conservatives have gone through having their personal freedom of speech stolen from them by Big Tech for not parroting the approved messaging,” she wrote, displaying her profile on the platform.
Former Rep. Devin Nunes, now CEO of the company behind the app, told Fox News they plan to have the platform fully functional in the United States by the end of March.
This story was originally published February 22, 2022 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Truth Social launches. But why are users complaining about Trump’s ‘free speech’ app?."
