Former President Donald Trump has made a splash in the social media world with the launch of his platform, Truth Social, earlier this year. This move came after Trump was banned from major sites like Facebook and Twitter following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. While he has since been reinstated on those platforms, he has largely stayed off X, the platform owned by Elon Musk that was once his primary megaphone.

Truth Social quickly shot to the top of Apple's list of most downloaded free apps, attracting roughly 5 million active users in February. However, the platform has struggled to move beyond an echo chamber of conservative political commentary, with a significant amount of hate speech and extremism due to its lax approach to content moderation.

Despite Trump's large following on X, where he boasts 87 million followers, Truth Social has less than 7 million followers. The platform looks and feels similar to X, with users able to post “truths” or "retruths," follow other users, and send direct messages. However, there is an abundance of conservative-leaning political posts, support for Trump, and criticism of immigration and President Joe Biden.

In order to be successful, Truth Social will need to grow its user base significantly. The company behind the platform has listed the need for millions of users to register and regularly use the platform as a chief concern. Trump has also agreed to wait six hours after posting on Truth Social before posting any "non-political communications" on other platforms, though this is at his discretion.

While newer social media apps targeting conservative users like Truth Social, Parler, and Gab have not come close to matching the success of mainstream platforms like Facebook and X, Trump's foray into the social media landscape is sure to continue attracting attention and controversy.