The IT Nerd

Truth Social, which is the social network that Donald Trump created after he was tossed off Twitter has been a dumpster fire since the second that it was announced. The latest crisis could spell doom for Truth Social according to The Washington Post.

Here’s the TL:DR:

According to the Washington Post, there is a September 8 deadline for a merger with a Miami-based company called Digital World Acquisition to close or be extended. Should that merger fail, Truth Social will be forced by law to return $300 million to investors. And Donald Trump will end up with “nothing” in financial gain. I wrote about this merger here.

The Washington Post report reveals that Truth Social has been plagued by unceremonious executive departures, credible accusations of insider trading, and even a whopping $18 million settlement over accusations that Truth Social executives lies to investors and the Securities and Exchange Commission. I wrote about some of that here.

Like I said, it’s been a dumpster fire. And it is another illustration of how bad a businessman that Trump is. Because everything he touches dies. And what doesn’t help is the fact that Trump made a re-appearance on Twitter by posting his mug shot and typing the words “Never Surrender”. Which is an odd thing for a guy who has surrendered to authorities four times in the last little while.

I’ll be watching on Friday to see if Truth Social lives or dies. I’m going to go with Truth Social dying. But I am free to surprised.

Forbes is reporting that Donald Trump’s legal defence fund website which is called the Patriot Legal Defence Fund has been pwned by unknown hackers. From Forbes:

The Patriot Legal Defense Fund website, seemingly established to support aides and employees of former President Donald Trump with their rapidly increasing legal expenses, has been hacked. The home page has been defaced to strike through Trump’s name and add an “America Is Already Great!” strapline. But the hacker has altered far more than just the banner.

As first reported by Raw Story, the Patriot Legal Defense Fund website defacement was apparently hacked late on Friday, August 18. At the time of publication, the site remains up and is still defaced.

Seriously? This site has been pwned since last Friday and they haven’t taken it down? I’m not kidding. If you go there right now by clicking here, you can see for yourself. That suggests to me that whomever is behind the site has lost control of it.

What losers.

This highlights the fact that the people behind Trump’s digital media strategy are not that bright. But given how much of a gong show Truth Social’s launch was, nobody should be surprised. And it underscores that everything that Trump touches, goes off the rails and becomes a train wreck next to a dumpster fire.

I haven’t written about Truth Social in a while, but I see that it continues to not be a success. I base that on the fact that Reuters is reporting about the departure of two key execs:

The two Southern tech entrepreneurs had the two qualities that Donald Trump’s Truth Social startup needed: tech-industry expertise and a politically conservative worldview aligned with the former president, a rare combination in the liberal-leaning industry centered in San Francisco.

Josh Adams and Billy Boozer – the company’s chiefs of technology and product development – joined the venture last year and quickly became central players in its bid to build a social-media empire, backed by Trump’s powerful brand, to counter what many conservatives deride as “cancel culture” censorship from the left.

Less than a year later, both have resigned their senior posts at a critical juncture for the company’s smartphone-app release plans, according to two sources familiar with the venture.

The departures followed the troubled launch of the company’s iPhone app on Feb. 20. Weeks later, many users remain on a waiting list, unable to access the platform. Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) Chief Executive Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman, said publicly that the company aimed to make the app fully operational within the United States by the end of March.

That’s not all. It also seems that the parent company behind Truth Social is downsizing staff:

Trump Media & Technology Group, Truth Social’s parent company, laid off about half a dozen people, including senior members of its ranks, such as Chief Technology Officer William “BJ” Lawson, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Lawson was the third person to hold the role at the company. Some close to Trump Media estimate it can fund operations through September at present spending levels, according to the people. 

It also doesn’t help that the company is still trying to get their merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. approved by regulators. At this point, you have to wonder how much longer Truth Social will be around. It honestly sounds like they’re on borrowed time. And you have to wonder if Trump’s legal issues will hasten its demise. Or perhaps give it a new life as that’s a safe space for those who believe in Trump.

Watch this space.

Truth Social which is Donald Trump’s social media platform, which as of late has a number of challenges facing it, has only been available on iOS since they launched. People, including. yours truly have wondered why it’s not available to Android uses. This report answers that question:

“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,” Google said in a statement to media.

And:

A source told Axios that the violations Google referred to “relate to content such as physical threats and incitements to violence.”

Google did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

I have to admit that I am puzzled by this as Apple approved this app and has been known to take apps off the App Store for similar reasons. Like this incident for example. Thus I have to ask, why is Apple allowing Truth Social on the App Store, but Google isn’t allowing it on the Play Store?

Inquiring minds want to know the answer to that question.

The clown show that is Donald Trump’s Truth Social continues with news that users are being punted from the site if they talk about the January 6th insurrection. Which goes against the platform’s promise of free speech:

The irony is rich: Truth Social, Donald Trump’s Twitter copycat claiming it is “free from political discrimination,” has reportedly banned users who posted information from Thursday’s congressional hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — in which the former president is a key focus.

That’s according to several posts on Twitter by users who claimed Truth Social was censoring them. Reps for Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns and operates Truth Social, did not respond to a request for comment.

Travis Allen, whose Twitter bio describes him as an information security analyst, on Thursday evening posted a screenshot from the Truth Social app that said “Account suspended,” and he wrote: “My Truth Social account was just permanently suspended for talking about the January 6th Committee hearings.”

He added, “So much for ‘free speech.’ This is censorship!” Allen did not provide details about what allegedly led to Truth Social kicking him off the platform.

While it is their right to punt people from the platform that violate their terms of service, it seems that Donald Trump and his lackeys are afraid of free speech. And they just want their own view of the universe on the Truth Social platform. Talk about being a bunch of snowflakes. This is yet another reason why this platform will simply crash and burn. And I think Trump and company are aware of that:

As of March 31, 2022, Trump Media & Technology Group had not generated any revenue to date and has warned investors that “TMTG may never generate any operating revenues or ever achieve profitable operations.” Sarasota, Fla.-based TMTG had approximately 40 full-time employees as of the end of March, per a regulatory filing by Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that intends to merge with TMTG.

What this means is that these snowflakes will be out of business sooner or later. Which means that Truth Social will be a very minor footnote in history as a result.

Not that I am surprised by this, but according to The BBC, Donald Trump’s attempt to create a social network of his own after being thrown off of every other social network on the planet has been branded a “disaster”:

Truth Social might look like Twitter, but it isn’t available on Android phones, web browsers or, apparently, to most people outside the US. And a Republican ally of Mr Trump’s, who did not wish to be identified, said: “Nobody seems to know what’s going on.” On 21 February, Truth Social was one of the App Store’s most downloaded apps — but many who downloaded it were unable to use it. There was an assumption this problem would soon be resolved and Mr Trump would start posting his “truths” in the coming days — but neither of those things happened. My attempt to register, this week, was placed at number 1,419,631 on the waiting list. 

While YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook are among the 10 most downloaded apps, according to Similar Web, Truth Social is outside the top 100. Users who find their way in can find the app a little empty, as many big voices on the American right have so far stayed away. Another study found downloads have fallen by as much as 95%. And many are feeling frustrated. “Signed up for Truth Social a couple weeks ago and still on a waiting list,” one Twitter user said, on Tuesday. “By the time I’m off the waiting list and on to Truth Social for real, Trump will be President again,” joked another.

And why aren’t things working? Here’s a big hint:

Truth Social chief executive Devin Nunes said its goal was to be “fully operational” by the end of March. 

But quite why the app is having so many problems has baffled experts. 

Some have pointed to Truth Social’s partnership with Rumble, a video-sharing platform that looks a bit like YouTube.

Popular with conservatives and the far right, Rumble was supposed to provide a “critical backbone” for the site’s infrastructure. 

But if Truth Social is having server problems, why has it taken so long to fix? 

“It should take a few days to fix, not six weeks,” a Republican source close to Mr Trump said. 

“There’s always going to be hiccups at the beginning – but at this point, I would have thought it would have been resolved. 

“Nobody seems to understand why.”

I can take a guess. The people behind Truth Social are in way over their heads and have no clue how to fix this and get things operational. So it sits there and acts as a pretty big source of embarrassment for Trump as a result. One wonders how long it will be before Trump gets fed up, burns it to the ground and pretends it never existed. Because there seems to be no light at the end of this tunnel for Trump.

Assuming that you were one of the few who were able to get into former President Donald Trump’s social network known as Truth Social, you might have a new problem that is different than trying and failing to register and/or being put on a waitlist of hundreds of thousands of people. You might get banned or censored if you say the wrong thing.

Take Matt Ortega who is a bit of a prankster. He tried to register DevinNunesCow on Truth Social. Devin Nunes is the CEO of the company behind this gong show of a social media network. And he was also a congressman who loved to be a cheerleader for Trump. But he also has very thin skin who tried to sue a pair of parody Twitter accounts who were trolling him. Namely Devin Nunes’ Mom and Devin Nunes’ Cow. Those lawsuits didn’t go Nunes way, and clearly Truth Social doesn’t want him to be trolled. Which is why Ortega likely had this happen to him:

That’s kind of funny. But this isn’t.

If you click the graphic, you will see the following:

You can find some basic facts about Stew Peters here. But here’s what you need to know. He’s an anti-vaxxer with some…. extreme views of the universe.

Both of these events go against the pledge that Truth Social’s pledge to be censorship free. But there was zero chance that Truth Social was ever going to be censorship free. The simple fact is that Truth Social currently has no web interface like Twitter or Facebook do. Thus they are totally reliant on apps. Or app seeing as they are only on the Apple App Store at the moment. And the App Store along with Google Play have rules that say that if you have content that violates their terms of service, your app get punted. Just ask Parler what that means. So Truth Social has to do some sort of moderation, aka censorship, or get banned out of existence very quickly. The DevinNunesCow thing is just Truth Social’s CEO not being able to take being trolled. But the Stew Peters thing is about the survival of Truth Social for something longer than 60 seconds. Thus if Trump supporters were hoping that they were going to find a place where they could yell into their echo chamber with their “views” of the universe, it’s not happening on Truth Social.

The rather shambolic launch of former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social has taken another turn. It’s now come to light that the logo is similar to a logo for a UK company called Trailar. A seller of truck solar panels. You can guess what happened next:

Matthew Summers, head of marketing at Trailer, confirmed to Insider on Tuesday that the company was considering legal action against Truth Social because of the similarity of the two logos.

Summers had earlier told The Daily Beast: “We are now seeking legal advice to understand next steps and options available to protect our brand.”

For reference, here’s the two logos side by side:

More than a passing resemblance. No?

It will be interesting to see how Trump and company respond to this lawsuit when it gets filed. Regardless, Truth Social is not off to a great start.

You might recall that Donald Trump was trying to launch a social media site, and ignoring the fact that it was almost immediately pwned by hackers, it used code from a open source code from a social media platform called Mastodon improperly. Which then led to threats of a lawsuit. It now seems Trump and company are now trying to quietly avoid being sued:

To avoid a lawsuit, Donald Trump’s social media site is quietly acknowledging the computer code powering the platform comes from Mastodon. Trump’s “Truth Social” site now features a dedicated section labeled “open source,” which contains a Zip archive to Mastodon’s source code. “Our goal is to support the open source community no matter what your political beliefs are. That’s why the first place we go to find amazing software is the community and not ‘Big Tech,'” the site adds. Truth Social created the section on Nov. 12, two weeks after social networking provider Mastodon threatened to sue Trump’s platform for violating its open-source license. 

Since Mastodon is an open-source software project, anyone can use it for free. But if you do, the software license demands the code and any ensuing modifications to your Mastodon-powered platform be made publicly available, allowing the entire Mastodon community to benefit. (This doesn’t include publishing any user data or disclosing admin access, though.) […] However, it appears the uploaded Zip archive is simply a barebones version of the existing Mastodon source code you can already find on GitHub. The archive itself is only a mere 30MB in size. Nevertheless, Rochko said the Zip archive might “become more interesting” once Truth Social finally launches.

I seriously doubt that it will get more interesting because these humans clearly have no clue what they are doing. One just cannot spin up a social media site out of thin air as that’s something that takes the Facebook’s and Twitter’s of the world years to do. Take my word for it, this site is unlikely to see the light of day. And even if it does, it is likely to be a train wreck next to a dumpster fire.

Donald Trump who has been tossed from pretty much every other social media platform on the planet decided to create his own social media platform:

Former President Donald Trump pitched his new social media platform, Truth Social, as a haven for free speech and a counterweight to the big tech giants that have in recent years put a greater emphasis on moderating content users post to their sites.

But as the platform’s terms of service agreement makes clear, not all speech will be permitted. Specifically, users are prohibited from speaking ill of the platform itself or its leadership.

Announced Wednesday, Truth Social will be part of the Trump Media & Technology Group, which also plans to launch a subscription video service for what it called “non-woke” programming. The company said it plans to begin a beta launch next month with a nationwide rollout early next year.

I guess if you’re such a bad boy that nobody will let you play in their sandbox, you have to build your own sandbox. And I guess because it’s your sandbox, you can create your own rules that protect your thin skin from being harmed.

Here’s where things get funny. Within hours, the website that hosts the sign up page for the site got pwned by hackers:

Mere hours after the world learned of Trump’s social media project, a sign-up link that clearly wasn’t meant to be public was discovered taking users to the domain “tmediatech.io.” A slew of people started registering for the unreleased platform via this page and quickly discovered that pretty much every username was available for the taking. The domain has since been taken down. 

It didn’t take long before usernames that clearly would be Trump’s choice for his own personal handle — @DonaldJTrump, @DonaldTrump, and @realDonaldTrump — were registered. The proud new owner of the TRUTH Social username @DonaldJTrump also took the opportunity to bless his profile page with its first post: the “Pig Poop Balls” meme image.

Usernames like @MikePence, Trump’s former VP, and @CodeMonkeyz, the online handle for QAnon figurehead Ron Watkins, were also quickly taken.

Over on Twitter, the company’s CEO and founder Jack Dorsey noticed that the TRUTH Social handle @Jack, which is what Dorsey registered for his username on Twitter, was used by Trump’s group for its promotional photos for the upcoming TRUTH mobile app on the App Store. Trump was permanently banned from Twitter following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

However, even though the promo used the @Jack handle, the username was not registered on the platform yet either. So, once trolls noticed this, the @Jack handle was scooped up as well and immediately got into banter with one of TRUTH Social’s many Trump accounts about the former president’s ban.

The fun lasted for a few hours before users who had registered for the unreleased platform started to be hit with an on-screen prompt saying “you can no longer use your account.”

Someone with Trump Media & Technology Group noticed what was happening and pulled the plug. The “tmediatech.io” domain is now inaccessible and the registered accounts have seemingly been removed.

Normally, this is the part of this article where I would say what horrible people these hackers are and they should be hunted down by law enforcement. And frankly, they likely should be if I am objective about this. But I find Donald Trump is and all those in his orbit are such unsavory characters. Thus I am fine with this. In fact I find it funny that this was so easy to pull off. Clearly whomever was running this project didn’t have security as a top of mind thing as you have to expect that it would have been a prime target for exactly this sort of thing to happen.

Oh and there’s this part that you might want to be aware of:

One interesting discovery from this whole episode though: Trump’s long-awaited social media platform actually appears to just be a copy of the open-source social media platform Mastodon.

While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with using an open-source platform, it appears Trump’s team may be violating the Mastodon licensing it’s distributed under by removing credits and links in the source code. Mashable has reached out to Mastadon for comment but did not immediately hear back.

#Fail. Clearly there’s a bunch of no-skill amateurs behind this. And apparently, said no-skill amateurs have bigger ambitions:

According to the bizarre Trump Media & Technology Group pitch deck, Trump is also planning on releasing a streaming video service to compete with the likes of Disney and Netflix.

If this social media platform is an indication of what these clowns can do, then there’s zero chance that they will compete with Disney and Netflix.