According to a Google spokesperson on Tuesday, 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.
The delay is a setback for the app, which was released on the Apple App Store on February 21. Android phones account for roughly 40% of the smartphone market in the United States. Most smartphone users cannot download Truth Social without using Google or Apple stores.
Google said in a statement, “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.”
“Truth Social responded last week, acknowledging our feedback and stating that they are working to address these issues.”
Google stated to Truth Social that it was concerned about violations of its Play Store policies prohibiting content such as physical threats and incitement to violence.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Axios was the first to report on the Android delay.
Truth Social reinstated Trump’s social media presence more than a year after he was barred from Twitter Inc, Facebook, and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube following the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots, after he was accused of inciting violence.
TMTG has pledged to provide an “engaging and censorship-free experience” on Truth Social, appealing to a fan base that believes its opinions on hot-button issues like the outcome of the 2020 presidential election have been censored on mainstream tech platforms.
TMTG is collaborating with Hive, a San Francisco-based AI-based content moderation company, to flag sexually explicit, hateful, bullying, and violent content on the app.
Human moderators decide what to do with the content flagged by Hive. While the scope of TMTG’s human moderation efforts is unknown, the company is looking for a “community content administrator” whose job will include reviewing “user-posted content on Truth Social and verifying that it adheres to established community guidelines.”
