Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, could really use a win right now. Downloads of the app are way down, two major tech executives recently left the company. Even Trump himself is refusing to use his own social network until things get better.
And, earlier this week, it looked like that much-needed win for Truth Social and its parent company, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), had arrived: Fox News officially joined the platform.
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Or so everyone thought. It turns out even that has turned out to be a major bust for Truth Social. According to Fox News, the verified @FoxNews account on Trump’s social network does not belong to the company.
A Fox News spokesperson would not comment beyond confirming to Mashable that the network is not on Truth Social.
Credit: Mashable Screenshot
The @FoxNews account on Truth Social was created on March 31, 2022, according to its Truth Social profile page. It’s unclear when the account was verified, but it is currently. However, just days ago, TMTG CEO Devin Nunes posted about the @FoxNews account on Truth Social, seemingly welcoming the company to the platform.
“Great to have RSS feed for @FoxNews now LIVE here on TRUTH!” posted Nunes, along with a screenshot of the verified @FoxNews account.
Credit: Mashable Screenshot
While that “truth” from Nunes didn’t necessarily warrant any red flags at the time, in light of Fox News now denying its on the platform, the wording does seem odd. In his post, Nunes specifically says that the RSS feed for Fox News is now on Truth Social. The RSS feed is simply an aggregate of the latest articles on FoxNews.com, which are being pulled automatically into the @FoxNews Truth Social feed.
This isn’t out of the ordinary for Truth Social. The company has set up a number of similar RSS feed-style accounts. For example, there is an @NFL account that is not officially run by the National Football League, which simply posts automated updates with the latest ESPN.com football news. But, Truth Social doesn’t hide that those aren’t official accounts. In fact, these automated unofficial accounts are labeled as “BOT” on the platform. When tapping on that BOT label, a prompt explains to users that these are RSS-powered accounts that have no affiliation with the organization they represent. These BOT accounts are not verified on Truth Social.
Credit: Mashable Screenshot
At the time of publishing, the @FoxNews Truth Social account is verified and does not have the BOT label.
This fumble wasn’t a complete loss though. Investors scored a victory, at least temporarily. The share price rose in the publicly traded shell company, Digital World Acquisition (DWAC), when it seemed Truth Social announced Fox News had joined the platform. TMTG merged with DWAC so it could trade on the stock market.
Mashable has reached out to Truth Social for comment. We will update this post when we hear back.
