Trump's Truth Social app branded a disaster

Donald Trump announced in October that he was going to start a company.

He said that he created Truth Social to stand up to the tyranny of big tech.

We live in a world where the Taliban have a huge presence on social media, yet your favourite American president has been silenced.

The app was launched on Presidents Day, but six weeks later there are problems. A waiting list of 1.5 million people can't be used.

The platform that banned Mr Trump after a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building is called Truth Social.

Donald Trump made false claims that the election had been stolen and inciting violence. He was banned for life.

Truth Social is not available to most people outside of the US, even though it looks like it.

Joshua Tucker is the director of NYU's Center for Social Media and Politics.

A Republican ally of Mr Trump, who did not wish to be identified, said that nobody seems to know what is going on.

Truth Social was one of the most downloaded apps on the App Store, but many who downloaded it were unable to use it.

There was an assumption that the problem would be solved soon and that Mr Trump would start posting histruths in the coming days.

My attempt to register, this week, was placed at the top of the list.

According to Similar Web, Truth Social is not among the top 100 most downloaded apps.

Many big voices on the American right have stayed away from the app, as users who find their way in can find it a little empty.

Downloads have fallen by as much as 95 percent.

Many are frustrated.

One user on Tuesday said that they had signed up for Truth Social a couple weeks ago and were still on a waiting list.

By the time I am off the waiting list and on to Truth Social, Trump will be President again, joked one.

By the end of March, Truth Social's goal was to be fully operational.

Why the app is having so many problems is baffling experts.

Truth Social has a partnership with a video-sharing platform that looks a bit like YouTube.

Rumble was popular with conservatives and the far right, and it was supposed to provide a critical backbone for the site's infrastructure.

If Truth Social is having server problems, why has it taken so long to fix?

A Republican source close to Mr Trump said that it should take a few days to fix.

I would have thought that it would have been resolved at this point.

Nobody seems to understand why.

According to reports, Mr Trump is angry because more people are not using Truth Social.

He has about 750,000 followers, but has not posted a truth for a month.

Mr Tucker said that they may be holding him back.

That is his last chance to launch it, and when Trump starts being active on it, that will get a buzz.

Truth Social could still compete with competitors.

Mr Trump retains star quality and any free speech app would bend over backwards to have him on its platform.

Truth Social is a little embarrassing at the moment.

A platform that was supposed to stand up to Silicon Valley's biggest players has not been able to get off the ground.

James is based in San Francisco. You can follow him on social media.