Truth Social is a social network created by TMTG (Trump Media & Technology Group), an American media and technology company, founded in January 2021 by the former president of the United States Donald Trump. Launched on February 21, 2022 and reserved for users from the United States and Canada, in just 65 days it reached the top of the ranking of the most downloaded social apps from the Apple Store. It was to point it out Elon Musk, with a Tweet on Twitter, recently became his property.
Musk on Twitter praises Trump's Truth: it is the most downloaded
Musk therefore winks at Donald Trump on Twitter. It is not known whether it is a question of personal sympathy for the former president and his digital creature or simple amazement at the "strange" ranking. Some Twitter users see it as a future challenge for Musk's new signing and relaunch: “It's time to change things“. A little earlier Musk had commented on the widespread moods for his new acquisition, like this: “The extreme antibody reaction of those who fear free speech says it all“. By connecting the dots, one might think that the entrepreneur wants to elect Truth as champion of the Freedom of expression and even make it his muse for the relaunch of Twitter, to say no to censorship, not even that of Donald Trump's fake news. In fact, it is no mystery that Elon Musk wants to bring The Donald back to Twitter a year after his expulsion: and this tweet also moves in that direction, despite the fact that the former US president has so far declined the invitation. Furthermore, Elon Musk's winking message confirms his intentions: those of focusing on more aggressive algorithms to multiply the domino effect of messages and on total freedom of expression, without constraints or sanctions even against blatant fake news.
Trump's Truth tops the social rankings: true or false?
To focus on the question, however, it is necessary to make a consideration: the alleged success of Truth is linked to download. You cannot draw up a rating ranking by comparing how many people have downloaded apps from a certain date onwards. To give an example: those who already own Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp or Instagram, which are really the most popular (and in fact do not appear in the ranking published by Musk), will not and will never be able to repeat the download for the same device, confirming your liking. In short, it is a ranking of what, in the jargon of Information Technology, is defined as the "peak ofhype cycle” that is the most favorable moment of the numbers which, in general, even when they are consolidated, are reduced by a lot. Those are the ones reasonable figures and the comparison – in the hype phase – with products that can already boast this type of significant data, does not make any sense.
Furthermore, it should be remembered that the only way to enjoy Trump's social network is to download the app from the Apple Store, then use it on mobile devices. The other social networks, on the other hand, live peacefully on their own on the Web. A Facebook user might not even have the mobile equivalent installed on their smartphone or tablet. The same can be said of YouTube or Instagram (not WhatsApp). In short, the download count from a mobile store, it would lack a large share of users.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk – evidently invited to clarify his tweets – stared at the Tweet where he explains: “ freedom of word, I mean simply what corresponds to the law. I am against censorship which goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask the government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is against the will of the people“. No, the situation has not improved at all…
