Zinger Key Points
- Truth Social has not been approved to be added to the Google Play Store.
- The social media platform that features Donald Trump is currently available to iOS users.
Donald Trump’s voice won't be reaching many Americans, with his new social media platform facing a roadblock from Android.
What Happened: The Google Play Store, which is owned by Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL, has not approved the Truth Social app for distribution, according to a report from Axios.
The report cites insufficient content moderation as the reason for holding up distribution in the Google Play Store.
Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes has placed the blame for the delay on Google, recently stating, “I don’t know what’s taking them so long.”
Google told Axios the placement of the app now lies in the hands of Truth Social if it wants to be included.
“On Aug. 19, we notified Truth Social of several violations of standard policies in their current app submission and reiterated that having effective systems for moderating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app to go live on Google Play,” the company said.
Google states that Truth Social is aware of the feedback and “working on addressing the issues.”
Sources point to Google having concerns over content on the social media platform that incites violence and includes physical threats. Many posts that contain threats are not labeled as sensitive content, which could prevent the app from getting approval.
It was announced at the start of August that users could sign up for pre-order of Truth Social on Android.
Related Link: Donald Trump Added The Patent Office To List Of Government Agencies He's Fighting, Not Just The FBI and White House
Why It’s Important: Truth Social, which is owned by Trump Media & Technology Group, is available to Apple Inc AAPL users via the iOS store, but has not made its way to a website version or Android app yet, which has limited the company’s growth.
Trump Media & Technology Group is in the process of merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp DWAC, a SPAC that faces an important vote soon. The SPAC is asking shareholders to extend the merger deadline. Without the vote passing, the SPAC will have until March to get the merger approved or risk the deal falling apart.
It was recently reported that Truth Social stopped making payments to its web-hosting services provider RightForge. The issue adds to investigations into the SPAC merger process by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and by a federal grand jury.
Truth Social downloads recently spiked after the raid by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump is able to post on Truth Social, one of the few social media platforms he is currently welcomed on. The former president was banned from Twitter Inc TWTR and Meta Platforms META owned Facebook after the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol. Fears of inciting violence is one of the reasons for his ban on several platforms.
The Google Play Store has banned other social media apps like Parler previously over moderation issues, which could mean Truth Social has major changes to make if it wants to be available to Android users.
DWAC Price Action: Digital World shares are down 2% to $24.80 on Tuesday.
Photo: Courtesy of Gage Skidmore on flickr
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