Donald Trump’s social media app Truth Social has surged in popularity following the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The app rose 66 places in the Apple App store from number 76 to 15 on 9 August, the day after agents searched his home. They were looking for boxes of classified information taken there after his time in office came to an end.
Many users have been posting angry messages about the FBI and one is believed to have carried out an attack on a Bureau office.
Mr Trump has used Truth Social as the main place to share his thoughts about the raid, including the post below.
This is one of the many posts Mr Trump has shared about the FBI raid on Truth Social. Pic: Truth Social
The former president began Truth Social after he was suspended from Twitter for his comments during the Capitol riots when his supporters stormed Congress on 6 January 2021.
The platform went live on the Apple App store on 21 February this year but many people were on a waiting list and were unable to sign up until late April.
According to data collated by Similarweb, a digital intelligence platform, and shared with Sky News, both the Truth Social app and website have seen an increase in popularity since the raid.
#FBIcorruption
Also in the last ten days, anti-FBI phrases such as #FBIcorruption, #Truth and #DefundTheFBI have been trending on the platform, which uses many of the same features as Twitter.
The dashboard for Truth Social is similar to that of Twitter. Pic: Truth Social
Many users are highly critical of anyone they consider as acting against Donald Trump, including Liz Cheney, a Republican Congresswoman who voted to impeach him and is helping to investigate the Capitol riot.
But in recent days most of the anger remains focussed on the FBI.
Trump’s supporters on Truth Social were unhappy the former president was raided. Pic: Truth Social
Posts like these are not unique to Truth Social and are common among Trump supporters on other free speech platforms, such as Gab, Parler and GETTR, as well as encrypted messaging app Telegram.
In some rare instances, people posting threats have gone on to carry out attempted and successful attacks in the real world.
At least one example of this appears to have happened already on Truth Social, despite the platform being online for only six months.
Three days after the raid on Mr Trump’s estate, Ricky Shiffer, 42, was killed by officers while he was attempting to break into the FBI’s Cincinnati office.
Police were positioned outside an entrance to the Mar-a-Lago estate on the same day it was raided by the FBI
Shiffer, who was armed with an AR-15 and a nail gun, is believed to have posted messages on Truth Social trying to encourage people to attack and calling for a civil war.
US media reports that an account with his name posted on Truth Social shortly after news of the FBI raid broke.
The user wrote: “I hope a call to arms comes from someone better qualified, but if not, this is your call to arms from me.”
He later added: “Evil already won, now we need to fight a civil war to take back the country.”
Shiffer also appears to have posted during the attack, with the account commenting: “Well, I thought I had a way through bullet proof glass, and I didn’t.
“If you don’t hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I., and it’ll mean either I was taken off the internet, the F.B.I. got me, or they sent the regular cops while.”
The message stops after the word “while”.
His account appears to have been removed from the platform.
Truth Social restricts ‘offensive or sexual’ speech
Mr Trump’s social media app and website is advertised as a home for free speech.
However, the platform’s terms and conditions restrict speech allowed on other major social media platforms, such as Twitter and Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram).
Truth Social users agree not to post offensive or sexual content, including “sexual content or language”.
Truth Social bans sexual and offensive content. Pic: Truth Social
This compares to Twitter where users are warned “you may be exposed to Content that might be offensive, harmful, inaccurate or otherwise inappropriate” and Facebook blocks people from sharing content that is “unlawful, misleading, discriminatory or fraudulent” or “infringes or violates someone else’s rights”.
A report published this month by Public Citizen, an American consumer advocacy group, found content around abortions and the Capitol riots were sometimes blocked, with early users reporting bans after selecting usernames that were critical or made a joke at the expense of Mr Trump.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
