- Hours after
Trump announced his newsocial media platform,TRUTH Social , some Twitter users had already found their way onto the beta site. - They were able to create accounts with the handles @donaldtrump and @mikepence.
It took just two hours for Twitter users to find their way onto the beta site for Trump's newly-announced social media platform, TRUTH Social, and create mock accounts of the former president and Vice President Mike
On Wednesday, the former president announced that his new social media platform, which appears to resemble Twitter closely, is reportedly slated for a 2022 launch. According to a press statement posted on Twitter by Trump's spokeswoman Liz Harrington, the app is expected to be available for pre-order in Apple's App Store in November.
Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday that the platform is expected to be in beta testing for the next few weeks.
However, the site appeared to be openly accessible. Insider saw several tweets just two hours after the announcement, where some users described how easy it was to enter the beta site for TRUTH Social and create an account with the handle "@donaldtrump."
-Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) October 21, 2021
Another Twitter user found their way onto the beta site and created an account with the ID @mikepence. The account was banned within an hour.
-Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) October 21, 2021
It is unclear why the beta site for TRUTH Social was so easily accessible. Insider notes that at press time, the beta testing site has been taken offline.
This is the latest instance of a conservative social media network being exposed to technical vulnerabilities.
For one, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell's social media site, Frank, ran into significant launch-day errors. People were unable to sign up to use the site on April 19 and had to be content with listening to Lindell's 48-hour livestreaming marathon to celebrate the site's launch while the platform itself remained a static page.
GETTR, a platform founded by former Trump aide Jason Miller, was hacked on its launch day. During the hack, Miller's page, as well as the accounts of Mike Pompeo, Steve Bannon, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Harlan Hill, Sean Parnell, and the pro-Trump broadcaster Newsmax, were temporarily taken over by the hackers.
Representatives for Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind TRUTH Social, Trump, and Pence did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.