Trump App Truth Social Reportedly Bans Account for Mocking Devin Nunes
A user says his account, @DevinNunesCow, was banned before he could even log in to the social network.
Truth Social became available for download on Apple's App Store late Sunday.
Former US President Donald Trump's recently launched app Truth Social has reportedly banned a user for trying to make an account called @DevinNunesCow, despite Trump positioning the social network as a bulwark against censorship.
The account's handle referred to Trump Media and Technology Group CEO and former US representative Devin Nunes. It seemed to be inspired by the parody Twitter account @DevinCow, which assumes the persona of a cow owned by the politician, a former dairy farmer.
Web developer and internet personality Matt Ortega tweeted on Tuesday that after he tried to make the account on Truth Social, he received an email from the platform saying that the account was permanently banned.
This is censorship. pic.twitter.com/Ih6odqlsJh
— Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) February 22, 2022
Many users on the app, which debuted on the Apple Store on Sunday night and hit No. 1 on the top charts by Monday, reported experiencing technical issues. That includes Ortega, who told Business Insider that Truth Social placed him on a waitlist after he encountered multiple server errors.
"I was never able to log in, leaving me to believe the account was banned simply for the username mocking the media company's CEO with a well known meme," Ortega told Business Insider.
The email Ortega received from Truth Social said the account was banned due to "community guidelines violations," though it's unclear which guideline Ortega was deemed to have violated. The Trump Media and Technology Group terms of service don't allow people to "disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site."
The Trump Media and Technology Group didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.