Truth Social, Donald Trump’s social media network, has debuted in a limited capacity on the Apple App Store in the United States.

Commentators compared the app to Twitter, noting that Mr Trump was banned from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube last year.

In addition, several early users experienced trouble creating accounts.

Devin Nunes, the project’s leader and a former congressman, claimed it will be completely operational by the end of March.

According to the Reuters news agency, several people who tried to register were told, “Due to tremendous demand, we have placed you on our queue.”

Truth Social, which was created by the year-old Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), was previously made available to around 500 beta testers.

Donald Trump Jr. posted a screenshot of his father’s first “truth” on Twitter last week: “Prepare yourself. Your favorite president is coming to see you shortly.”

According to the App Store, Truth Social has already received one update for “bug fixes,” and is presently at version 1.0.1.

According to the Washington Post, pranksters found a beta version of the app online last autumn and acquired the identity donaldjtrump.

Following the 6 January 2021 US Capitol riot, Twitter banned the former president, citing a violation of its rules against the celebration of violence.

Commentators have pointed out buttons on Truth Social that mirror those on Twitter’s respond, retweet, and “like” functionalities, among other things.

Truth Social bills itself as a “‘big tent’ social-media platform that supports an open, free, and honest global dialogue without regard for political ideology,” according to its website.

Mr. Trump wants Truth Social to support “free expression” and avoid the “restriction” that Twitter and Facebook have imposed.

Conservatives believe that Silicon Valley social media giants are suppressing free expression by eliminating postings and users.

Mr Nunes, who resigned from Congress in December to become TMTG’s CEO, told the conservative Newsmax network, “We cannot employ any of the large tech corporations.”

“As a result, we’ll have to start from scratch.”

Apple and Google kicked Parler out of their shops last year for failing to delete messages that they claimed threatened violence or constituted criminal behavior.

It was given permission to return, but only after agreeing to Apple and Google’s terms of service.

Mr. West claims that “there is no way to escape big tech.”

“Even if he has his own platform, if he violates their terms of service, they might effectively remove his program from their app store, making it extremely difficult for him to gain traction.”

Mr Trump’s longtime adviser and spokesperson Jason Miller established Gettr, which likewise encourages “free expression” and looks like Twitter, last year.

He told reporters, “It’s not like there’s a dummies’ handbook to developing a social-media platform.”

“You’ll need to hire good people.

“And, to be honest, a lot of folks are terrified… because they’re concerned about what would happen if I have anything on my résumé that threatens one of the large tech corporations.”

Truth Social will also need to be secure enough to withstand hacking attempts.

“‘There are a lot of individuals who don’t want us to succeed, including foreign countries and other negative actors,” Mr Nunes explained.