Thousands of people who were hoping to try out Donald Trump's new social media platform have been duped into downloading fake versions of the app.
Having been banned from a multitude of platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the former president launched his new Truth Social app on Sunday, February 20, to offer his fans a Twitter-like platform 'without discriminating against political ideology.'
The app is currently only available on Apple with a Play Store version said to be 'coming soon', but unfortunately some Android users missed the memo as they sought to join in with Trump's 'truth' this week.
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A search for Truth Social on the Play Store came back with an Android app listed as 'MAGA Hub — Truth Social Trump'. According to Insider this particular app was actually released on August 28, 2021, but the bulk of its downloads took place after February 8, closer to the release date of Trump's app - but still before his app was actually made available.
In spite of these warning signs, reviews on the app indicated many users believed they had downloaded Truth Social, with one review cited by Insider reading: 'Come on Trump I thought you were smarter than this. I will be deleting this app right away, it's just plain dumb.'
Another user commented: 'Great platform and new as well. No matter your opinions you will be welcome here without being canceled by some new age barking children'.
In a report for Gizmodo, Tom McKay described receiving an error message when he tried to sign up for MAGA Hub on Tuesday before the app 'began displaying content from its news feed, which almost exclusively consisted of the kind of things you’d see in a QAnon channel on Telegram or a t-shirt at CPAC.'
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He added: 'Many users appeared to have been under the impression that MAGA Hub was the Android version of Truth Social. While as of Tuesday afternoon the vast majority of people appeared to have caught on, a number of users had seemingly missed the memo.'
Google confirmed this week that it had suspended the app from its store for violating its impersonation policy, though not before it had been downloaded more than 100,000 times.
It seems that MAGA Hub — Truth Social Trump isn't the only platform to have attempted to trick Trump fans, as The Washington Post described another 'totally unaffiliated ‘social app for truth’ that charges users $4.99 a week', and a site called TMTGSocial.com which has reportedly seen hundreds of users posting pro-Trump content.
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Topics: Donald Trump, Social Media, Technology, Politics
Emily Brown