2020 and the Coronavirus emergency have brought with them a series of themes and topics that are still the subject of discussion around the world. One of these, as far as social networks are concerned, is content moderation. From posts on Covid-19 to fake news, the debate in these 2-3 years has been heated. So much so that, in reaction to the control policies of the main platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, a series of alternative social networks were born.
Misinformation Monitor
Former President Trump actively promotes QAnon through the Truth platform
a cura di Jack Brewster, Coalter Palmer, Shayeza Walid
One of these is Truth Social, the digital space created by the “censored” par excellence: that Donald Trump whose Twitter and Facebook ban was one of the main topics of discussion in the tech world in early 2021. Truth had to be, in intention of the former US President, a free platform, without censorship. Well, these days it is also landing on Google Play in the US (the platform is not yet in Italy), right after an agreement with Alphabet on content moderation.
Yes, because Big G rejected Truth Social’s subscription to the Android application store last August. And he had done so, in particular, because the platform didn’t have a content moderation policy that incites violence. Problem solved now, so much so that in the next few days American users will be able to download the application also from the Google store.
I study
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The point is to figure out how many will actually do it. The period, for the social network founded by Donald Trump, is not the best. After a couple of spikes in downloads, one in the first few weeks after launch and one after the FBI search in Mar-A-Lago, the future of the app looks uncertain. And at least three different reasons have to do with it, from the actual quality of the social network to some technical and financial difficulties.
A spin your Social Truth
The main question everyone asked when Trump launched Truth was: ok, but who is signing up now? At the moment, there are no real estimates on the number of active users on the platform. There is talk of about 2 million people a month against, to name one at random, the 300 million of Twitter. Trump himself has reached 4 million followers, against almost 90 before the ban on the bird’s social network.
Few users who actually don’t even use the platform that much. According to an insight from Rolling Stone, Truth is doing everything to hide the few interactions. In recent weeks, on the social network it is even impossible to access the entire list of followers of any account, as well as that of ReTruths, the Trumpian version of Retweets. A move, according to the US magazine, to hide the presence of artificial accounts, used to inflate the numbers.
In this sense, important data comes from Pew Research Center, one of the leading overseas research institutes. In a study on alternative social networks, researchers found that users banned from other platforms don’t see Truth as a space of interest, but instead prefer social networks like BitChute, Rumblr, Gettr or Telegram.
The technical problems
At the root of this disaffection, there may be questions of a technical nature. In fact, starting from the endless waiting lists of the first months and the interface almost entirely taken from Twitter, Truth did not stand out for the validity of its technological component.
According to a Reuters investigation, the reasons are also political. The management of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company that manages Truth, has in fact refused to hire personnel deemed close to the liberal circles of Silicon Valley; an aversion, however, reciprocated by most of the tech worker Californians. A circumstance that according to the German news agency would have slowed down the run of the platform and decreased its chances of competing with other social networks.
But the point is not just the technical problems. Even on the moderation of content, net of the proclamations of absolute freedom, there is no shortage of problems. Many have said in recent months that they have been banned for content apparently harmless but with a political connotation, such as a post on the trial on Capitol Hill.
The feeling is that the problem concerns precisely the technological component of the social network, which is unable to distinguish the tones and specificities of the contents. TMTG, says Bloomberg, did not give details on how to moderate the content; he only specified that the social network relies on Hive, an AI-powered post verification platform. The same, to understand, used by NGL, the app to send anonymous messages on Instagram, which in our test had shown the inability to identify obscenities and bodyshaming.
Financial problems
This scenario contributes to the last of the issues that Donald Trump and TMTG are called to resolve. To insert liquidity and guarantee the economic and financial management of the company, which currently does not generate any revenue, TMTG should be acquired by Digital World Acquisition, a SPAC, an investment vehicle, or a company created for the sole purpose of acquiring a another company and then quoted it on the stock exchange.
The point is that this agreement is not closed: on October 10, for the third time, the vote of the investors on the acquisition was postponed. According to Axios’ reconstruction, the uncertain fate of the social network is influenced by an investigation that the SEC is carrying out on a series of improper communications between TMTG and Digital World.