Trump's Truth Social network is trying to get influencers — some of whom are openly anti-Trump — to 'reserve' their 'preferred username' on the site to hype the app before its launch: report
- Trump's Truth Social app is appealing influencers and asking them to come on board as VIPs.
- Axios saw emails sent to influencers soliciting sign-ups and asking them to reserve their usernames.
Former President Donald Trump's Truth Social app is reaching out to influencers, including those with overly anti-Trump content, in a bid to get them to sign on early to the app.
Axios saw emails sent out by representatives from Truth Social to several influencers sent from the email address "vip3@tmtgcorp.com," which is linked to the app's holding company, the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG).
Axios spoke to two influencers who received Truth Social invitations: Jeremy Jacobowitz, who has 159,700 TikTok followers, and food and travel writer Gillie Houston, who has 106,000 Instagram followers.
Jacobwitz posted about receiving the email on TikTok:
The email asks Jacobwitz if he'd like to "reserve" his "preferred username/handle" when the site launches is "late February/early March."
Houston told Axios that she does not intend to respond to the solicitation because of her anti-Trump leanings. Meanwhile, Jacobowitz has content on his TikTok page that is overtly anti-Trump, including a video calling Trump the "dumbest person ever."
Representatives for Truth Social and TMTG did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Trump's Truth Social app was initially touted as a way for the former president to "stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech."
However, the social media platform will not let users criticize the site, according to Truth Social's terms of service, which says users may not "disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site." Insider's Tom Porter also reported this week that the site will use AI to automatically censor some posts, after partnering with tech firm Hive, which can scan platforms for banned content.
The platform has also run into several roadblocks along the way. Vulnerabilities were exposed in the app's beta website in October when Twitter users took just two hours to get into the website and create dummy accounts for Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Truth Social was also given a 30-day timeframe and a warning to stop violating a license agreement, after claims that it had used source code from decentralized social network Mastodon. It also missed a projected November deadline to launch the official beta version of its app,
Truth Social launches on February 21, Presidents' Day, according to its app store listing.