Trump’s Truth Social app aims to stand up to Big Tech. But it needs Google, Apple to survive

The launch of Truth Social  comes a year after Donald Trump was banned from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

With just weeks to go before an expected launch, Donald Trump’s new media venture is trying to strike a delicate balance with its app: giving Trump’s base the freedom to express themselves, without running afoul of Apple and Google’s app store policies.

The launch of Truth Social  comes a year after the former U.S. president was banned from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It will be a major test of whether Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and other tech companies that describe themselves as champions of free speech can scale alongside the Silicon Valley gatekeepers that conservatives have accused of squelching free expression.

TMTG has pledged to deliver an “engaging and censorship-free experience” on its Truth Social app, appealing to a base that feels its views around such hot-button topics in American life as vaccines and the outcome of the 2020 presidential election have been scrubbed from mainstream tech platforms.

Yet Trump’s tech team must erect guard rails to ensure Truth Social does not get kicked out of the app stores run by Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google – a fate that befell popular conservative app Parler in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021,  in the U.S. Capitol. Without these stores, there is no easy way for most smartphone users to download the app.

The risk of such “de-platforming” is a top priority for TMTG Chief Executive Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman, as his team builds the app, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Recognizing that the app will be a major target for hackers from day one, Nunes wants to have cyber talent at the “nation-state level,” one of the people said. Nunes has said publicly that the company’s goal is to launch its Truth Social app by the end of March.

A spokesperson for TMTG did not respond to a request for comment.

TMTG remains shrouded in secrecy and is regarded with skepticism by some in tech and media circles. Two conservative media executives pointed to the venture’s apparent failure to launch a beta service in November, as planned, and cited the lack of known involvement by high-profile media, tech or political players – other than Nunes – as evidence it may be more bluster than substance.

“No one has approached me or my team,” said one conservative media insider. “Trump has always been a bit of (his) own island.”