What is Truth Social, Donald Trump's social media platform?

abcnews.go.com:

Former President Donald Trump launched his social media platform, Truth Social, in early 2022, after he was banned from major sites such as Facebook and the former Twitter following the Jan. 6 insurrection

SAN FRANCISCO — Former President Donald Trump launched his social media platform, Truth Social, in early 2022, after he was banned from major sites such as Facebook and the platform formerly known as Twitter following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

While he's since been reinstated to both, he's mostly stayed off X, the Elon Musk-owned platform that was once his primary megaphone. On Facebook, meanwhile, his posts are largely videos and images with slogans and messages like “THANK YOU, MISSOURI! Together, WE are going to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

That's unlikely to change even as the Trump Media & Technology Group, which runs Truth Social, will start trading on the NASDAQ stock market soon. A shareholder vote Friday approved a deal to merge it with Digital World Acquisition Corp. — a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, also referred to as a blank check company.

Here are some things to know about Trump's social media platform and where it fits into the broader social media landscape.

Before Truth Social, there was a short-lived blog on Trump's personal website called «From the Desk of Donald J. Trump.” But it didn't last long, and Trump's camp was already hinting that the former president had a social media platform in the works.

Truth Social launched in the Apple App store in February 2022. It was a glitchy start, but it shot to the top of Apple's list of most downloaded free apps. While the platform sought to capitalize on the outrage over Trump's social media bans to attract a broad audience,