Late last year, former US President Donald Trump outlined his plan to launch a social media platform called TRUTH Social. This after he was de-platformed from several services in the wake of his loss during the 2020 Presidential Elections.

At the time, details on when the social media platform would be available to his supporters in the US was unknown, but now a listing on the Apple App Store (no word on Google Play Store) points to a potential launch on 21st February 2022.

According to Reuters, which has been in contact with the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the aforementioned 21st February launch is one of three phases planned for the TRUTH Social.

The first is of course signing up and onboarding users to a platform that looks remarkably similar to the interface employed by Twitter. Next is a video on-demand service that would allow users to upload and share content, and this could be followed by the launch of a podcast network.

As such, much like the rhetoric surrounding this platform, it looks to indeed be a “big tent” for Trump supporters and other like-minded individuals to engage with one another.

That said, Apple has remained mum on the subject of the launch, failing to respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the matter.

How long the platform will be up and running remains to be seen, with the likes of Parler running into problems once users began violating terms of service for the technology infrastructure providers that prop up such platforms.

As we noted in an episode of the africast last year, outside of the divisive nature of its users and the effort needed to run social media platform, TRUTH Social will likely encounter several administrative hurdles from other technology firms on its journey to becoming fully fledged.

We will therefore need to see what happens come 21st February 2022.

[Image – CC BY-SA 2.0 Gage Skidmore on Flickr]