Truth Social, the social media platform owned and utilised by former US President Donald Trump, will not be coming to the Google Play app store.

According to Google, the platform allows prohibited content, such as inciting violence and making physical threats, violating its policies.

“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,” a Google statement read.

The company added that it had provided advice on how to change its content moderation policies to help Truth Social be accepted onto its platform.

A statement from Truth Social’s owner, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), said that it “continuously worked in good faith with Google to ensure that the Truth Social Android App complies with Google’s policies without compromising our promise to be a haven for free speech”.

With 44% of US mobile phone users working on Android, the move cuts off a significant number of potential users for Truth Social.

The app, similar to Twitter, Trump’s soap box of choice until he was banned from it in the wake of the 6th of January 2021 Capitol insurgence, is currently available on Apple’s iOS, downloadable from its App Store.

Truth Social launched in February but was beset by various technical problems limiting its reach, preventing it being used on web browsers and limiting its reach beyond the US. Even people who downloaded it through the App Store reported being unable to use it.

Despite this, the app was downloaded two million times in its first two weeks, and reportedly has around two million monthly active users as of April.

Truth Social saw a surge in downloads in the wake of the Mar-a-Lago raid by the FBI.

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Speculation about the position of Truth Social has not been good in recent days. Reports have claimed that the social media platform is struggling, both to increase its userbase and bring in revenue.

According to filings with the US SEC, the company has not only failed to bring in revenue, but lost over $6 million in the first half of this year. A trust that holds most of the company’s assets currently holds around $293 million.

In addition, the company reportedly stopped paying its online hosting provider in March, and now owes it $1.6m in backdated payments. However, given that the company, RightForge, a company dedicated to hosting conservative content, has said it is committed to servicing Truth Social, it may have more leeway than most companies.

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