Truth Social

About

Truth Social is a social media platform billed as a politically conservative alternative to Twitter. It was founded by former President Donald Trump in late 2021 near the end of his presidency and created by Trump Media and Technology Group. Prior to the website and app going live, it encountered problems with hacking and drew criticisms online from some, as many reviewers found it to be a poor copy of Twitter. On Truth Social, posts are called Truths, and users can like, post, and reTruth them just as on Twitter they can like, tweet, and retweet posts.

History

On January 8th, 2021, Twitter permanently banned Donald Trump due to his alleged role in inciting the January 6th Capitol Riot. ^[1] In the months following the ban, Trump attempted to develop a social media presence outside of Twitter, including the launch of a blog called "From The Desk of Donald Trump," though it saw much less attention than his tweets and was quickly closed down.^[2]

On October 20th, 2021, Trump announced the development of "Truth Social," a Twitter-like app that would cater to conservatives who purportedly felt they were being censored on the platform.^[3] The site was in beta at the time, and within hours, it was overrun by trolls who had hacked its flimsy security measures. Notably, an account with the name "@donaldjtrump" posted the Pig Poop Balls image (shown below). The beta was closed shortly after.

On February 15th, 2022, Donald Trump Jr. posted^[4] an image from Truth that claimed to be the first post from Donald Trump, reading, "Get ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!" The site is slated to launch on February 21st, 2022.

Legal And Financial Troubles

Shortly after rolling out to all iOS users in May 2022, the app and the companies behind it came under investigation by the SEC. The entity set up to merge with Truth Social and finance it, DWAC, is under scrutiny over whether it coordinated with Trump and others before the merger, which would be illegal.^[7]

It was revealed on August 29th, 2022, that Truth Social owes RightForge, the cloud hosting service which keeps it online, over $1.6 million in back payments.^[8] The inner workings of the company remain unclear, but commentators speculate that Trump and others are relying on the merger to come through and provide money for Truth Social to keep on running. Dan Rather, joking about Trump's burying of his ex-wife Ivana at his golf course (purportedly for a tax break) joked about the possible interment of Truth Social, and earned almost 62,000 likes over the course of a day.^[9]

Trump claimed in a Truth post the same day that the reports of Truth Social being in financial trouble were false, and encouraged more users to sign up for the platform.^[10]

Reception

Truth Social has largely been dismissed by tech critics as the site's gone through its beta period between late 2021 and early 2022. Many critics have compared it to apps like Parler and Gettr, which also billed themselves as conservative or uncensored alternatives to Twitter but have not competed with Twitter's traffic numbers.^[5] Furthermore, some critics were concerned it could pose a threat to democracy and become a host platform for hate speech.^[6]

Corn 2 Twitter Hoax

An August 14th, 2022, tweet by Twitter user @KeatonPatti, which received over 154,000 likes in a day, purported to show screenshots of advertisements from Truth Social for products such as "Corn 2," "My Straw," "VaxDar" and "Patriot Powder" (seen below), but these were doctored images. Nevertheless, "Corn 2" was a trending topic online with many responding to the idea as it spread in mid-August 2022.

Among these was Twitter user @NotPotBol, who tweeted a picture that same day on August 14th of 1950s Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev holding a cob of corn with laser eyes photoshopped in, receiving just under 100 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below).

The core of the joke revolved around the perceived distance between the information ecosystem on Truth Social and the one outside of it on Twitter, with many users believing the fake ads might actually be real products marketed on the platform (example seen below).

Search Interest

External References