Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, has pointed out that former US President Donald Trump's social network application Truth Social was leading Twitter and TikTok in downloads. Musk made the announcement on Twitter, sharing a screenshot from the Apple's App Store.
"Truth Social is currently beating Twitter & TikTok on the Apple Store," Mr Musk wrote. His tweet has been liked by more than 280,000 users.
This comes amid speculation that Mr Trump's Twitter account, suspended in the wake of last year's Capitol riots, will be reinstated now that Mr Musk is in charge.
But the former US President said in a statement that he won't join Twitter, later adding that the micro-blogging platform has become "very boring".
Truth Social first appeared on the Apple Store in February 2022. It was launched by Trump's team in opposition to Twitter, with an intention to give users a platform to have "an open, free, and honest global conversation," according to its website.
Mr Musk on Monday clinched a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion at his offer of $54.20 per share, which the billionaire said he will use to promote free speech. In a tweet, he clarified that "by free speech I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law".
Musk also hoped that "even my worst critics remain on Twitter" after he acquires the social media platform "because that is what free speech means".
Listed on the New York Stock Exchange for just under nine years, Twitter has posted a net loss every year, except 2018 and 2019 when it made a profit of just over $1 billion.
Twitter's revenues are mainly derived from advertising rather than its user base, which isn't large enough to make up its finances.
Twitter is scheduled to release its first quarter results on Thursday. Wall Street expects earnings per share of three cents and revenues of $1.2 billion.
