Trump’s Truth Social Hit With Problems On Launch, Crashes

Donald Trump's new social media app Truth Social, a newly created Twitter clone is ranked top in the Apple store. However, following its Sunday launch, the application displayed a glitchy start for users.

Despite the long list of users waiting in anticipation of the platform, an indication of various problems of using the app emerged. An AFP journalist was not able to access Trump's page and Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) did not reply to a query about its status.

Truth Social was inaccessible in the first days of its debut because of technical glitches--a 13-hour outage and a 300,000-person waitlist. Many users who tried to sign up to use the app encountered challenges. Reports stated that users got error messages or "failure to register" warnings when they entered their birth date.

Trump previously released a statement regarding why he created a new platform. "We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favourite American President has been silenced," wrote Mr Trump. "Everyone asks me why doesn't someone stand up to Big Tech? Well, we will be soon!" he added.

Due to allegations of making provocative statements to overturn his 2020 election, which eventually led to the Capitol Hill riot, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube banned Trump last year. Since then, he has been looking up a new direct-to-voter megaphone ahead of a critical legislative election this year.

Within just two days after going live on Apple's App Store, the waitlist to join Truth Social had grown to half a million by Wednesday. RightForge, the internet infrastructure company hosting Trump's venture, expects the network to grow to more than 75 million users eventually.

The users spending time through the new interface could see many "truths," as posts on the platform are called, all topics focusing significantly on the former president's most desired issues. "Truth Social allows the posting of 'not safe for work' and 'trolling' content," stated in its community guidelines. The platform is only allowed to users with a minimum age of 18. Included in Truth Social's terms of service, contributions must not be "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing, libelous, slanderous, or otherwise objectionable."

"We want to be very family-friendly," said TMTG CEO and ex-congressman Devin Nunes during Fox Business interview aired in January.