Donald Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, could really use a win right now. Two major tech executives recently left the company and the Downloads of the app are way down. Trump isn't using his own social network until things get better.
It looked like that much-needed win for Truth Social and its parent company, Trump Media and Technology Group, had arrived: Fox News officially joined the platform.
Everyone thought so. Truth Social has turned out to be a major bust. The verified Fox News account on Trump's social network does not belong to the company.
A Fox News spokesman confirmed to Mashable that the network is not on Truth Social.
The verified, yet unofficial @FoxNews account on Truth Social. Credit: Mashable Screenshot
The Truth Social profile page shows that the Fox News account was created on March 31, 2022. The account is currently verified. The company was welcomed to the platform by the CEO, who posted about the Fox News account on Truth Social.
The RSS feed for Fox News is now live on Truth.
TMTG CEO Devin Nunes welcomes the @FoxNews...RSS FEED?...to TruthSocial Credit: Mashable Screenshot
While that "truth" from Nunes didn't necessarily warrant any red flags at the time, the wording does seem odd now that Fox News has denied it on the platform. The RSS feed for Fox News is now on Truth Social, according to a post by Nunes. The latest articles on FoxNews.com are being pulled into the RSS feed of the Truth Social feed.
This is not out of the ordinary for Truth Social. A number of similar RSS feed-style accounts have been set up by the company. The National Football League does not run an official account that posts automated updates on their website. Truth Social doesn't hide that those aren't official accounts. These automated unofficial accounts are labeled as BOT on the platform. When using the BOT label, a prompt explains to users that the accounts are powered by RSS and have no affiliation with the organization they represent. Truth Social does not verify these BOT accounts.
The @NFL Truth Social account is an example of how RSS-powered feeds usually look on the platform. Credit: Mashable Screenshot
The Fox News Truth Social account is verified and does not have the BOT label.
This was not a complete loss. At least temporarily, investors got a victory. Digital World Acquisition's share price went up when it appeared that Fox News had joined the platform. The stock market allowed it to trade on the stock market.
Truth Social was reached out to by Mashable. When we hear back, we will update this post.