Trump's Truth Social not approved for Android users
Former US President Donald Trump's social media platform Truth Social has not yet been approved for distribution on the Google Play Store due to insufficient content moderation, a Google spokesperson said on Tuesday. The delay marks a setback for the app, which launched in the Apple App Store on February 21. Android phones comprise about 40 percent of the US smartphone market.  “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. “Last week, Truth Social wrote back acknowledging our feedback and saying that they are working on addressing these issues.” Google said it has expressed concerns to Truth Social about violations of its Play Store policies prohibiting content such as physical threats and incitement to violence. Truth Social restored Trump's presence on social media more than a year after he was banned from Twitter, Facebook and Google parent Alphabet's YouTube following the January 6, 2021 US 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. TMTG is working with Hive, a San Francisco-based company that does AI-based content moderation, to flag sexually explicit content, hate speech, bullying and violent content on the app. Human moderators decide what to do with the content Hive has flagged. While the scope of TMTG’s human moderation efforts is unclear, according to a posting on the TMTG website, the company is hiring a “community content administrator” whose job will include reviewing “user-posted content on Truth Social verifying it adheres to established community guidelines.” (Reuters)