Donald Trump's Twitter clone hits controversy on launch; CRASHES soon after

Donald Trump’s newly created Twitter clone Truth Social ranked on top in iPhone App Store Free app list after its launch on Monday, but shortly after, it started glitching

Truth Social, the Twitter clone app by Donald Trump became the top free app on iPhone App Store after launch. But the app started glitching soon after. (AFP)

Interestingly, the Former US President Donald Trump chose ‘President's day', a day when the USA celebrates its first President George Washington, to release his own social media app on Apple App Store. Naming it Truth Social, the app has seen massive popularity on the iPhone App Store and ranked on top of its free app list. The app is being called a Twitter clone after almost all of its features have similarities with the popular microblogging social media platform. The massive curiosity and demand from users that took the app to the top of the App Store, also resulted in it showing multiple glitches and crashes shortly after its launch.

Trump's decision to create his own platform came after he was banned from all major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube last year due to allegations of making provocative statements which eventually led to the Capitol Hill riot on January 6. In October 2021, Trump released a written statement on why he was creating a new social media platform., “We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American president has been silenced. This is unacceptable,” he wrote in the release.

Truth Social has faces a bumpy ride after release

Despite the popularity of Truth Social on iPhone App Store, the platform failed to deliver on its expectation after multiple glitches saw users not being able to register to the social media app. Many even received a message that told the users that they have been put on a waiting list. The message displayed, “"Due to massive demand, we have placed you on our waitlist”. Later, Devin Nunes, the CEO of Truth Social said that now the goal was to make the Twitter clone app fully operational in the USA by the end of March.

“This week we will begin to roll out on the Apple App Store. That's going to be awesome because we're going to get so many more people that are going to be on the platform. Our goal is, I think we're going to hit it. I think by the end of March, we're going to be fully operational, at least within the United States,” he said.

Many are comparing the social media platform with that of Twitter, even calling it a clone app. The app has many similarities with Twitter including the option to follow others, reposting and commenting posts which are called Truths and using hashtags.