Trump’s Truth Social Barred from Google Play Store

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/30/trump-truth-social-barred-from-google-play-store-content-moderation-concerns.html

by SV_BubbleTime • 4 years ago

35 43 4 years ago

cnbc.com

xenospn3• 4 years ago

clearly they’re also violating the apple TOS, no? both platforms are somewhat similar in what they allow/reject.

blagie• 4 years ago

I don't think so. I think Google, Twitter, and friends don't like Trump, so they go out of their way to ban him.

I don't think they're wrong to dislike Trump, but I think the treatment has the opposite of the desired effect: banning Trump simply validates what he tells his supporters. There are more nuanced tools which big tech could use; this feels a bit blunt.

xenospn3• 4 years ago

That's a misconception - there's a clear right-wing, pro-trump bias on all large social media platforms, consistently for years, and it's by design: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/feb/01/facebook-youtu...

CharlesW• 4 years ago

clearly they’re also violating the apple TOS, no?

Google's decision certainly gives Apple some PR ground cover if they decide to ban it as well. However, Apple may not want to do that at this time.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/26/justice-department-...

Also: If Apple bans Truth Social for "lacking effective systems for moderating user-generated content", one has to ask whether Twitter is any better in this regard. You can't be a person in the public eye on Twitter without regularly receiving hate speech, death threats, etc. either.

xenospn3• 4 years ago

Didn't they remove Tumblr for this very reason at one point?

anon2912• 4 years ago

Just go build your own as long as it's exactly the same as all the rest. "Freedom"...

SV_BubbleTime4• 4 years ago

Just go build your own duopoly of app stores next?

anon2912• 4 years ago

My comment was sarcasm, if that wasn't obvious.

andsoitis2• 4 years ago

I tried signing up on Truth Social just now to check it out.

They ask for your phone number but only make provision for +1 and +44.

What is a good way to get a +1 number that protects my privacy?

anaganisk• 4 years ago

They only allow “real” phone numbers. No VOIP!

SV_BubbleTime4• 4 years ago

I can't blame them if I had a service I would do the same.

simfree3• 4 years ago

What qualifies though? Are US Cellular, Inland Wireless, Viaero, Verizon and such whitelisted? If so, which of their operating carrier numbers are whitelisted? Or are they doing this the ghetto fabulous way by NPA-NXX carrier allocation without checking the current underlying LEC?

More than one of the carriers I listed will sell you SIP trunking and texting on their wireless OCN, breaking most schemes of this type. Registering on a wireless number and immediately moving it to wireline or VoIP is another major threat to this model.

ulfw• 4 years ago

Just don't bother with this 'social network'. How about that?

Funny how the 'truth' is blocked outside the US. All I am getting is: "At the moment, Truth Social is available for U.S. users only, but rest assured, we are working hard to make it available in your country. When Truth Social becomes available for you, we'll make an announcement. Stay tuned! Access denied You cannot access truthsocial.com. Refresh the page or contact the site owner to request access."

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/03/05/truth-soci...

andsoitis2• 4 years ago

I’m just super curious to read what people discuss on there. Even Twitter can be browsed without signing in. Gab similarly.

zaik• 4 years ago

jmp.chat?

ALittleLight2• 4 years ago

Microsoft faced antitrust legislation for bundling a free browser with their OS, but Google and Apple are allowed to dictate content moderation policies for apps on their OS?

This is disgusting.

hotpotamus• 4 years ago

Perhaps another corporate tax cut will show them the error of their ways.

superchroma3• 4 years ago

Maybe if it was Twitter that was running the Android app store, but it seems to me that this situation is not so clear cut. How is this an anticompetitive action?

ALittleLight2• 4 years ago

Google competes for user's attention and advertising dollars. It seems pretty straightforward to say that prohibiting competitors from operating is an anticompetitive action.

faeriechangling3• 4 years ago

Historically maybe 3 broadcasters opinions on morality in the US dictated what everybody in the entire country heard for quite a few years.

version_five• 4 years ago

Why can't they make a web app?

I think what google is doing is in a sense an unfair application of market power and is anticompetitive, but on the other hand, I don't really see what specifically Truth Social would miss out on if they just deployed as a web app and circumvented any tech company gatekeeping

duxup• 4 years ago

They have a website.

simfree3• 4 years ago

PWAs on Android seem to have restricted push notification access (for me they always show up under silent notifications from my browser), and things get a bit mixed up when your browser has multiple push notifications authorized.

Asking the target userbase to install a progressive web app is not very attractive given the name. Might as well call it "Demoncrat" web apps as far as Truth Socials users are concerned.

dagmx• 4 years ago

On Android, they could technically also just ask users to side load it. It’s fairly trivial to do.

That said…there’s definitely going to be a lot of scam apks because the demographic would be ripe for conning.

trident5000• 4 years ago

"I don't really see what specifically Truth Social would miss out on"

Virtually all accessible users. Your average consumer is not tech savvy.

knewter• 4 years ago

They have a very good PWA already

superchroma3• 4 years ago

A thing that strikes me is that technology is so accessible and cheap now that relying on friction and cost of entry to deter right wing collectives online is not proving effective.

annexrichmond• 4 years ago

Google says that the app violates the Play store’s standards for content moderation, according to Axios.

Wonder what Google has to say about Twitter's child porn problem?

Twitter could not safely allow adult creators to sell subscriptions because the company was not — and still is not — effectively policing harmful sexual content on the platform.

[1] https://nypost.com/2021/01/21/twitter-sued-for-allegedly-ref...

[2] https://www.theverge.com/23327809/twitter-onlyfans-child-sex...

tragictrash2• 4 years ago

Please stop the whataboutism. The devil doesn't need an advocate. Go home.

faeriechangling3• 4 years ago

I don’t consider it whataboutism, I think that many social media companies are clearly in literal violation of googles policies and thus citing policy to shut down truth social gets an “okay bro” reaction.

The moderation is clearly totally arbitrary in where it draws the line regardless of if truth social is or is not worse than other social media platforms. Google is effectively making this up as they go.

krmboya• 4 years ago

I wish Google cared as much about customer service as they do about 'moderating user-generated content'.

fomine3• 4 years ago

Google/Apple shouldn't be trusted as a global censor. Each app store are dominant platform.

h2odragon• 4 years ago

No antitrust implications there, not at all. They fairly offer their services to all who agree with their politics.

Remember Parler? How is that not an antitrust lawsuit to the amount of Facebook or Twitters highest valuation? "We coulda been this big had the established competition allowed us to compete"

Trump’s Truth Social Barred from Google Play Store

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