By Helen Coster
(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google has approved former U.S. President Donald Trump’s social media app Truth Social for distribution in the Google Play Store, a company spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which operates Truth Social, is expected to make the app available in the Google Play Store shortly, Google said.
Truth Social, which launched in the United States in the Apple App Store in February, had not previously been available in the Google Play Store due to insufficient content moderation, according to a Google spokesperson in August.
Without the Google and Apple stores, there is no easy way for most smartphone users to download Truth Social. Android phones comprise about 40% of the U.S. smartphone market.
Truth Social restored Trump’s presence on social media more than a year after he was banned from Twitter Inc, Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube following the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riots, after he was accused of posting messages inciting violence.
TMTG has pledged to deliver an “engaging and censorship-free experience” on Truth Social, appealing to a base that feels its views around such hot-button topics such as the outcome of the 2020 presidential election have been scrubbed from mainstream tech platforms.
News of Google’s approval was first reported by Axios.
(Reporting by Helen Coster in New York. Additional reporting by Paresh Dave in Oakland and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Deepa Babington)
