Google approves Donald Trump’s Truth Social for play store

Alphabet Inc’s Google has approved former United States President Donald Trump’s social media app Truth Social for distribution in the Google Play Store, a company spokesperson has said.

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which operates Truth Social, is expected to make the app available in the Play Store shortly, Google said on Wednesday.

TMTG did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Truth Social, which launched in the US in the Apple App Store in February, had not previously been available in the Play Store due to insufficient content moderation, according to a Google spokesperson in August.

Google had expressed concerns to Truth Social about violations of its Play Store policies, which prohibit content like physical threats and incitement to violence.

Without the Google and Apple stores, there is no easy way for most smartphone users to download Truth Social.

Google’s Play Store is the main way users of Android phones in the US download apps. Android users can get apps through competing stores or download them directly from a website, though it often requires extra steps and security permissions.

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Truth Social has been available through those means even as Google blocked it from the Play Store.

Android phones comprise about 40 percent of the US smartphone market.

Truth Social restored Trump’s presence on social media more than a year after he was banned from Twitter Inc, Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube following the January 6, 2021 US Capitol riots, after he was accused of posting messages inciting violence.

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

News of Google’s approval was first reported by Axios.

SOURCE: REUTERS