(A7) Former US President Donald Trump’s new media venture plans to launch its social media app, Truth Social, on February 21, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing an Apple App Store listing.
TRUTH Social, the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) alternative to Twitter, is available for pre-order before going live on the US Presidents’ Day holiday, the report said.
TMTG and Apple did not respond to requests for comment, but a source familiar with the matter confirmed that February 21 is the planned launch date of the app.
Trump announced in October that he would be launching a new social network, “TRUTH Social”, that purports to “stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech.”
The app’s launch would come 13 months after Trump was banned from prominent social media networks following the riots on the US Capitol.
Facebook banned Trump from its platform in the wake of the riots on the US Capitol on January 6 and then referred its decision to the independent Oversight Board, a panel of experts and civic leaders from around the world that was established last year.
The Oversight Board later upheld the suspension of Trump, but also said Facebook should determine a “proportionate response” that is consistent with rules applied to other users of the platform.
Twitter also shut down Trump’s account following the Capitol riots and later approved a permanent ban on the former President.
Twitter and Facebook were the first of many companies to take action against Trump, and were followed by Google which suspended Trump’s YouTube channel, Reddit which banned some pro-Trump forums, and Snapchat, which permanently banned Trump’s account on the day he left office.
After he was removed from the various social media platforms, Trump briefly ran a blog where he shared statements, but that blog was shut down after less than a month.
