Former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform is facing a holdup to becoming available on the Google Play store.
In a statement to Axios, a Google spokesperson said, “On Aug. 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.”
“Last week Truth Social wrote back acknowledging our feedback and saying that they are working on addressing these issues,” the statement added.
A source told Axios that Google has concerns about violent content related to physical threats or incitement.
“Truth Social does have ‘sensitive content’ banners that appear before some posts that read ‘This content may not be suitable for all audiences,’ but content that threatens violence remains on the platform,” Axios noted.
The outlet also pointed out, “Because Truth Social isn’t available on Android operating systems, around 44% of U.S. smartphone users can’t download it.”
While those who wish to send “truths” on Truth Social cannot currently use the app, they can still go to their browser and use it that way.
However, that is not as convenient as having the app.
Companies should be able to moderate the content that is on their platforms to make sure that there are not physical threats or calls to violence or pornography flying around if they want.
However, it seems to be a bit of a gray area when it comes to servers or app stores and blocking products because you disagree with their platform moderation policies.
It is understandable that Google wants to prevent its services from offering users platforms where violent content is rampant.
But barring social media companies from using essentially necessary services such as app stores unless they comply with Google’s content requirements seems a little heavy-handed. It’s not as though these are comments that are showing up on an app made by Google, or comments that are being made by Truth Social.
As we saw with Parler, when social media companies are not allowed to show up on app stores and exist only in browsers, interest in them can plummet rather quickly. And that can make it harder for competitors to Twitter or Facebook to attract the capital that would be needed to build out better moderation teams and systems.
If Google is going to exert such control over what it allows on its app store, it should at least have clear, consistent requirements that are evenly applied.
Based on Axios’ report, it appears that Google did provide Truth Social with specific changes it would like to see. So there is a chance that Truth Social could make it onto the Google store after all.
