On February 21, former United States President Donald Trump launched his social media platform called Truth Social. Just over a month after its launch, Truth Social was called a failed project.
Trump announced his intention to launch his own social media after being permanently banned by Twitter on January 8, 2021. Twitter argued that Trump's tweets incited violence that led to the attack on the US Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.
Truth Social itself has a look and features similar to Twitter. But this social media is only available for iOS, and until now it is not available on Android, web, or people outside the United States.
When it was launched, Truth Social became one of the most popular apps on the Apple App Store. But many users who have already downloaded cannot register their account due to various problems and are put on a waiting list.
Many assume this technical problem will be resolved in a few days. But until now, the queue of users waiting to create a new account has reached more than 1.4 million people.
"This is a total disaster," said Joshua Tucker, director of the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University.
"No one seems to know what happened," said the Republican Trump supporter who asked not to be named.
While popular social media apps like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook made it to the top 10 list, Truth Social didn't even make it to the top 100, according to Similar Web data.
Another study found that Truth Social's downloads had dropped by 95% despite topping the App Store's list of top apps a month earlier.
Trump supporters who can't wait to join Truth Social have expressed their disappointment on Twitter.
"Signed up to join Truth Social a few weeks ago and still on the waiting list," said one Twitter user.
"When I get off the waiting list and into Truth Social, Trump will be President again," joked another Twitter user.
Truth Social boss and former US Congressman Devin Nunes said the app would be fully operational by the end of March. But observers are also confused by the many problems that plague this right-wing social media platform.
Many think that Truth Social is having issues with its servers, but then wonder why such issues alone take so long to fix.
Even Trump was reportedly annoyed and asked why there were so few Truth Social users. He has around 750,000 but his last post on Truth Social was over a month ago.
"Maybe they're holding him back. That's his last chance to launch Truth Social, when Trump suddenly comes in and starts getting really active, it's going to make it all the rage," Tucker said.