What's going on with Trump Media's streaming service?

The service, which promises 'non-woke' news and entertainment, recently said it had expanded globally, writes Ken Bensinger from Los Angeles

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In the streaming era, incremental news from a tiny upstart with limited content, few bells and whistles, and zero original programming normally wouldn’t command too much attention.

Unless the majority owner of that upstart is US President Donald Trump.

Truth+, the little-known, year-old video streaming service started by Trump Media & Technology Group, said last week that it had expanded globally. The announcement helped generate enough buzz to bump up the price of the holding company’s sagging stock, at least for now.

It also provoked a question: What is Truth+, anyway?

Trump Media and Technology Group, a publicly traded company, announced plans in late 2021 to introduce a video-on-demand service called TMTG+. The company said the service would focus on “non-woke” entertainment. In press materials, the company cast TMTG+ as a direct competitor to Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu.

Nothing more was said about it until April 2024, when Trump Media's president and chief executive, the former Republican representative Devin Nunes, said it “had finished the research and development phase of its new live TV streaming platform” and would soon begin rolling it out. “We aim to provide a permanent home for high-quality news and entertainment that face discrimination by other channels and content delivery services,” Mr Nunes said.

The service, renamed Truth+, formally debuted last August. It was first accessible through the Truth Social website or app, and standalone Truth+ apps for Android and iPhone dropped a few months later.

This April, Trump Media said that Truth+ was now compatible with most TV platforms, like Roku or Apple TV, and that its reach had expanded to Mexico and Canada. Last week’s announcement pushed those borders farther, making Truth+ and its programming available worldwide.

ETHICAL CONCERNS

Finding news content on Truth+ that is critical of the Trump administration will not be easy.