Former President Donald Trump's social media site TRUTH Social could be launched as soon as February 21, as the former president marks more than one year since he was booted off Twitter.
The move comes as Twitter has experienced a decline in its stock price over the past month and some conservatives have moved to alternative platforms such as Gettr and Gab.
Twitter was widely considered Trump's favorite social media site and he often posted several tweets a day touting his administration's achievements, and strongly criticizing political opponents and others.
TRUTH Social is being developed by the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) and is available to pre-order now on Apple's App Store and a launch date of February 21 was listed for the app as of January 6.
That would mean a potential launch on Presidents' Day.
However, the launch date was later removed from the listing, and an article from The Washington Post on January 10 reported that it could be months before the site actually launches, citing unnamed sources.
The newspaper also reported that Trump has been frustrated with the pace of the social media site's development.
It remains unclear if the app will in fact launch on iOS on February 21. It's also not clear when it will launch on the web and Android, but an unnamed source confirmed to Reuters on January 6 that February 21 was the intended launch date.
The App Store shows screenshots from TRUTH Social that indicate it may be a Twitter "clone", as the design will be very familiar to Twitter users. The former president was permanently banned from Twitter on January 8, 2021, two days after the events of the January 6 Capitol riot.
He had previously been suspended on January 6 before receiving a permanent ban. The former president had 88 million followers at the time.
The expected launch of TRUTH Social comes as Twitter has seen a notable decline in its stock price. Twitter closed at $37.28 per share on Thursday, representing a fall of 0.19 percent on the previous day. That fall was continuing at the time of writing on Friday morning.
The company's stock price has declined 14.92 percent over the past month, while tech stocks in general have been seen a recent fall with the tech-heavy NASDAQ entering correction territory.
A correction is a term used on Wall Street to describe a sell-off where prices fall 10 percent from a recent peak. That peak occurred on the NASDAQ on November 22, 2021 and the index had fallen 10.7 percent from that high by Thursday.
Netflix, Amazon and Microsoft have all seen recent declines, with Netflix worst hit and experiencing a 26.4 percent fall in its share price since the company's stock price hit an all-time high on November 17, 2021.
TRUTH Social's website currently prompts visitors to pre-order the app from Apple's App Store and encourages people to join a "waiting list" by providing their details and email address, but does not say when the site will launch.
The site describes itself as "America's 'Big Tent' social media platform that encourages an open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating against political ideology."
Newsweek has asked Trump Media and Technology Group for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
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