Devin Nunes, the former California congressman who left office to run Donald Trump's app Truth Social, has remained quiet as the platform continues to be plagued with issues.
Truth Social, the latest "free speech" app aimed at conservatives, ran into problems almost immediately after its launch in the Apple app store in the early hours of February 21.
Users attempting to sign up were met with major technical issues meaning they were unable to set up their profiles. Once they finally managed, people were then placed in waiting lists with hundreds of thousands of others ahead of them.
Prior to its launch, Nunes, now CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), stated that the app may not be fully rolled out until the end of March and that some bugs were to be expected.
However, it is now April and Truth Social is still having major teething problems.
The huge waiting list still exists and now appears to be more than one million people long, the app is not available on Android or outside of the U.S., and there is still not a functional website where users can posts their "truths"—the app's equivalent of a tweet.
Truth Social's woes have continued as two top executives have quit, Reuters reported on Monday. Josh Adams, Truth Social's chief technology officer, and Billy Boozer, head of product development, both left less than a year after joining the company, although it is unclear why.
Adams' departure in particular could cause further issues for Truth Social as it continues its rollout. One of the sources quoted by Reuters described him as the "brains" behind the app's technology.
Newsweek has contacted Dunes and TMTG for comment on the resignations, as well as the continuing problems at Truth Social, but neither have remarked on the turmoil.
Perhaps the biggest sign of how much of a failure the app has been so far is the fact that Trump himself is not even posting updates on the app.
Several weeks after its launch, Trump has still only shared one "truth" on the platform which was meant to be a triumphant return to social media for the former president who was banned from all mainstream apps over fears he could incite violence in the wake of the January 6 attack.
As previously noted by Newsweek, Trump's children are also not frequently using Truth Social, with Donald Trump Jr., Eric and Ivanka Trump still choosing to mainly post updates on Twitter.
It is not just the Trumps who are not showing interest in the app. According to SimilarWeb, which tracks website traffic and performance, Truth Social has fallen down the ranking on the Apple online store and is currently the 173rd most popular app.
Research firm Apptopia found that daily users for the app have declined 95 percent since its February launch, and is currently lagging on just 8,000 per day.
Joshua Tucker, director of NYU's Center for Social Media and Politics, described Truth Social as a "disaster" in comments to the BBC. However, he suggested that there could be still a chance for it to become popular if the former president actually starts using it.
"Maybe they're holding him back," Tucker said. "That's his last chance to launch it—when suddenly Trump comes in and starts being really active on it, that will get a buzz."
In early March, Nunes told right-wing One America News Network that that Truth Social team is "working literally around the clock 24/7" to address the issues and that they are "doing everything we can to keep the platform clean, and to keep off all the nasty bots."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
