Google approves ex-US president Donald Trump's Truth Social for Play Store

Former US President Donald Trump's Truth Social has now been approved by the Google Play Store. With this, Trump's social media app will be available for Android smartphones via Google's proprietary app store.This comes after Truth Social moved to implement stronger content moderation policies as asked by the Google Play Store. The application is run by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG).

Earlier, Google had said that Truth Social would not be available for download in its app store until it implemented policies that address incitement and threats of violence. However, Trump-backed social media apps had already been made available to some Android devices via non-Google sources, such as the Samsung Galaxy Store.

Truth Social has agreed to enforce its policies against incitement, says Google

According to a CNN report, Truth Social has now met all the required standards and people across the world would be able to download the application.

Notably, social media apps on the Google Play Store have been directed to provide an in-app system for reporting objectionable content. "Apps may be distributed on Google Play provided they comply with our developer guidelines," said a spokesperson to CNN, "including the requirement to effectively moderate user-generated content and remove objectionable posts such as those that incite violence." The spokesperson further informed that, under Truth Social’s policies, user content that encourages violence "may result in" that content, or the account creating that content, being removed from the platform. "Truth Social has agreed to enforce its policies against incitement," Google added.

The decision to create a social media application was taken by US former President Donald Trump after he was banned from every major social media platform following the January 6, 2021, Capitol storming incident. He had announced that his platform would "stand up to the tyranny of big tech." It is pertinent to mention here that Trump was banned from Twitter and suspended from Facebook after his supporters stormed the US Capitol. Also, social media giants like Twitter and Facebook had removed some of Trump's posts and labelled them as misleading, including a post in which he said COVID was "less lethal" than the flu.

Image: AP/Representative