Former US President Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social has not yet been approved for distribution on Alphabet Inc’s Google Play Store due to insufficient content moderation, a Google spokesperson said on Tuesday, according to the Reuters news agency.
“On August 19, we notified Truth Social of several violations of standard policies in their current app submission and reiterated that having effective systems for moderating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app to go live on Google Play,” Google said in a statement.
- Google said it has expressed concerns to Truth Social about violations of its Play Store policies prohibiting content like physical threats and incitement to violence.
Truth Social parent company Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment, but in a press release said that it has “continuously worked in good faith with Google to ensure that the Truth Social Android App complies with Google’s policies without compromising our promise to be a haven for free speech.”
“Moreover, some of our competitors’ apps are allowed in the Google Play Store despite rampantly violating Google’s prohibition on sexual content and other policies, whereas Truth Social has zero tolerance for sexually explicit content,” it added.
Trump launched Truth Social in February, and to date it has only been available for download from the Apple App Store.
The app’s launch came 13 months after Trump was banned from prominent social media networks following the riots on the US Capitol.
- Facebook banned Trump from its platform in the wake of the riots on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and then referred its decision to the independent Oversight Board, a panel of experts and civic leaders from around the world that was established last year.
The Oversight Board later upheld the suspension of Trump, but also said Facebook should determine a “proportionate response” that is consistent with rules applied to other users of the platform.
Source: Arutz Sheva