Former US president Donald Trump’s social network - Truth Social - is being downloaded more times than both Twitter and TikTok in the Apple app store, and Elon Musk tweeted about it today.
Trump's new social media platform Truth Social has been top of Apple's charts for free apps this week - the week in which Musk’s deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion (R690bn) was accepted.
In a tweet this morning Musk, the sole owner of Twitter, said : “Truth Social is currently beating Twitter & TikTok on the Apple Store”.
Twitter was in second place with BeReal and TikTok in fourth and fifth places respectively, according to Musk’s screen grab.
However, some were quick to point out that this was not indicative of how well the sites were doing as people already had Twitter and Tik Tok installed: “What they gonna do, reinstall it?” asked one tweet.
Truth Social’s audience is, in fact, far smaller than that of Twitter which has been in existence for years. Before being banned for life on Twitter, Trump had 89 million followers while on his Truth Social, he is reported to only have 1.7 million followers.
Some followers suggested: “It’s time to buy Truth Social”, while others said with Musk’s freedom of speech stance, Twitter would soon be number one.
Meanwhile a left-wing government watchdog group is reportedly demanding Apple engage in mass pre-emptive censorship and remove Truth Social from its app store.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the federalist.com reports, urging the American tech executive to put an end to Trump’s Truth Social, from its digital marketplace despite no violations of company guidelines.
Trump has said this week he would not rejoin Twitter, the platform that permanently banned him, even if Musk rescinds his ban in the name of free speech.
Some, however, don’t believe, if given the chance, Trump won’t return.
IOL WEALTH