Watchdog Says Apple Must Follow Google’s Lead and Take Down Truth Social Because of Repeated Policy Violations
Anya Silverman-Stoloff <anya@unbendablemedia.com>
Fri 9/2/2022 10:14 AM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, September 2, 2022
CONTACT: Anya Silverman-Stoloff | anya@unbendablemedia.com
Media Matters Says Apple Must Follow Google’s Lead and Take Down Truth Social Because of Repeated Policy Violations
Statement from Angelo Carusone, President of Media Matters for America:
“Before Truth Social officially launched, we warned the platform would lack even the most basic moderation standards required by the major app stores. As expected, it has become a cesspool of conspiracies, disinformation and threats of physical violence.
“In fact, Truth Social has been found time and time again failing to moderate content that threatens or encourages physical violence, sometimes leading to real-world acts of harm. Yet, despite the app repeatedly violating Apple’s safety terms of service, it remains on the App Store.
“Google removed Truth Social from their Play Store for rule violations. Apple has not. Apple issued warnings and even enforced their rules against other platforms, like Parler, for similar actions in the past. Yet, they keep giving Truth Social an exemption.
“Apple needs to stop giving Truth Social special treatment.
“The cauldron of disinformation and political violence will certainly continue to simmer on Truth Social if Apple continues to give the platform a pass. And worse, if Apple doesn’t act, when that cauldron boils over into violence, Apple will be complicit.”
Media Matters research shows that Truth Social fails to moderate content that threatens or encourages violence, including from users who promote the QAnon conspiracy theory, seemingly violating Apple’s policies. Apple’s policies prohibit the distribution of apps that fail to moderate dangerous and defamatory content. Truth Social has repeatedly failed to moderate content that threatens or incites violence. Trump has continued his amplification of QAnon on Truth Social. On August 30 alone, Trump amplified at least 12 different QAnon accounts a total of 18 times.
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