The release date for former President Donald Trump’s social network has been delayed despite his fervent desire to position the platform as a rival to existing Big Tech platforms.
Trump Media and Technology Group CEO Devin Nunes announced on Thursday that TRUTH Social was still undergoing beta testing and would release by the end of March. That would place the app’s release a month after its initial announcement, which said it would debut Feb. 21 on its iOS app page.
The delay could be partly due to the company’s refusal to turn to existing tech companies for the infrastructure needed to build the website.
“It’s very difficult,” Nunes said during a Thursday appearance on Newsmax. “We cannot use any of the Big Tech companies. We’ve seen what has happened to other small startup companies. And when Amazon decides they don’t like them, they cut them off.”
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Two weeks ago, the company would use algorithms designed by Silicon Valley startup Hive to handle content moderation. Hive is used by several other notable tech companies, including Giphy, Parler, and Walmart.
The former California congressman touted TRUTH Social’s partnership with YouTube alternative video service Rumble, saying TMTG would “continue to find people that will not cancel us, that want to see the internet back open again for everyone.”
The former president has badgered his would-be tech competitors, mocking recent news about Facebook’s declining user numbers as he attempted to bulk up his to-be-released social platform.
“This means people are tired of Fake News and abuse and especially tired of their political shenanigans,” Trump said in a Friday statement, alleging the decline could mean “people are waiting for TRUTH — the highly sophisticated platform that we look forward to opening in the not too distant future.”
Trump also announced on Friday that the “Freedom Convoy” of truckers is welcome to join his social network, on which they can “communicate freely.” This comes after Facebook shut down a group of truckers on Wednesday who planned to travel from California to Washington, D.C., in protest of vaccine mandates.
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TMTG raised more than $1 billion in investments in December 2021 after teasing TRUTH Social in October as an alternative to Big Tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter. The social media platform has also been used to help the National Republican Senate Committee raise political funds in exchange for allegedly reserving usernames on the platform. The company is also attempting to court several influencers to join and promote the platform.
