On Tuesday, Google announced that until Truth Social, the social media site launched by former President Donald J. Trump, removed anything that incites violence, it would not distribute Truth Social on its Play app store.
Truth Social developed an Android version of its app this year; however, Google claimed it detected user content that included physical threats and requested that Truth Social remove the offending material before resubmitting the app for evaluation.
A Google spokeswoman said, “On August 19 we notified Truth Social of many violations of our policies in their current app submission and repeated that having adequate procedures for regulating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app to go live on Google Play.”
Truth Social responded to our concerns last week, saying, “We’re aware of the issues you’ve brought to their attention and we’re working to resolve them.”
Since the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Google has been basing a growing amount of content management judgments on whether or not they can incite actual physical violence. As a result, Mr. Trump is still barred from adding any new content to his channel, which was the stated reason given by the company’s subsidiary YouTube.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the business behind Truth Social, expressed hope that Google would approve the app as soon as possible.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the firm claimed, “TMTG has continually worked in good faith with Google to ensure that the Truth Social Android app conforms with Google’s regulations without compromising our pledge to be a refuge for free speech.”
