Trump's Truth Social app censored an account that poked fun at the app's CEO, former Rep. Devin Nunes

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Trump's Truth Social app censored an account that poked fun at the app's CEO, former Rep. Devin Nunes
Donald Trump (left) and a phone displaying his social media app, Truth Social.Brandon Bell/Getty Images/Christoph Dernbach/picture alliance via Getty Images
  • Trump's Truth Social app banned a user who tried to create an account called "@DevinNunesCow."
  • It was a nod to the Twitter account "@DevinCow," which purports to be a cow owned by Devin Nunes.
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Two users of Donald Trump's new social-media app Truth Social have reported being censored for wildly different reasons.

Truth Social was released on iOS on Sunday, although its launch was beset with technical issues that made it difficult for some users to create accounts. Many of those who did manage to create an account were placed on a waiting list.

Matt Ortega, a web developer, tried to create an account called "@DevinNunesCow" — but tweeted that his account was banned by Truth Social due to "social community guidelines violations."

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Ortega shared the email with Insider, which confirmed its authenticity.

The account name is a nod to a Twitter parody account called "@DevinCow," which purports to be run by a cow owned by former Republican Rep. Devin Nunes. Ortega does not operate the original @DevinCow account on Twitter.

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Nunes tried to file a defamation lawsuit against the owner of the @DevinCow account in March 2019. A judge dismissed Nunes' case in June 2020.

Nunes is now the CEO of Trump Media and Technology Group, the company that developed Truth Social.

Ortega told Insider he ran into multiple server errors but that once the account had been created, he was placed on a wait list.

He said: "The next evening, I received the email notifying me of the ban. I was never able to log in, leading me to believe the account was banned simply for the username mocking the media company's CEO with a well-known meme."

It is not clear exactly which community guideline Ortega violated. He told Insider that he did get in touch with the app to ask why he was banned.

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Truth Social's terms of service include a ban on anything that could "disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site."

TMTG did not immediately respond when contacted by Insider outside of usual US working hours.

When Trump announced he would be developing Truth Social in October, he said the purpose of the app was "to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech."

Trump was suspended from mainstream social-media platforms Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube after the January 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol.

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