Donald Trump (left) and a phone displaying his social media app, Truth Social.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images/Christoph Dernbach/picture alliance via Getty Images
- Several Truth Social users claimed they were banned after posting about the Jan. 6 committee hearings.
- Users took to Twitter to complain about being suspended or experiencing technical difficulties with the site.
- The apparent banning of users contradicts the site’s central promise to be a “free speech platform.”
Users of former President Donald Trump’s Truth Social claimed they had been banned from the social media platform after posting about the January 6 committee hearings.
Travis Allen, a political commentator on social media and self-described information security analyst, claimed on Friday that he had been permanently suspended for talking about the hearings.
“So much for “free speech.” This is censorship!” Allen tweeted.
—Travis Allen (@TravisAllen02) June 10, 2022
Another Twitter user, Jack Cocchiarella, claimed he had been banned after posting about the hearings.
—Jack Cocchiarella (@JDCocchiarella) June 10, 2022
Several others claimed to have been censored or suspended by the platform recently, one over a video of Ivanka Trump and another stating that Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
Insider could not independently verify the claims. Insider reached out to Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns and runs Truth Social, but did not receive an immediate response.
The apparent banning of users, which was first reported by Variety, contradicts the site’s central promise to be a free speech platform.
Since its launch, Truth Social has already gained a reputation for censoring content and banning users for various reasons.
The site’s terms of service state: “We reserve the right to, in our sole discretion and without notice or liability, deny access to and use of the service (including blocking certain IP addresses) to any person for any reason or for no reason.”
It also requires users who sign up to agree to not “disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site.”
Social media platforms can moderate content as they see fit under US law, which Trump controversially attempted to challenge while in office.
Trump announced his plans to launch Truth Social last year after being permanently banned from Twitter and suspended from Facebook for two years following the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
From the start, the platform was plagued with technical issues, including network outages and glitches that prevented people from creating accounts.
Many users reported similar outages on Truth Social on Friday, with many posting screenshots on Twitter of a “network failed” message when trying to use the site.
The former president took to the platform on Thursday and Friday to respond to the January 6 committee hearing, including rebuking Ivanka Trump’s statement that she “accepted” there was no fraud in the 2020 election.
