Donald Trump’s new social network has run into a major hurdle: it won’t be available to almost half of US smartphone users.

Google, which lists apps for the Android operating system on its Play store, has refused to release the Truth Social app on its platform.

This means it won’t be available on most of the 44% of US handsets that run the Android operating system. Other marketplaces — like Apple’s App Store — do offer the app.

Created by the Trump Media and Technology Group, Truth Social is intended to offer a ‘free speech’-focused alternative to traditional social media platforms like Twitter, from which Trump himself is banned.

But, according to the BBC, it has a host of rules restricting what users can post.

Nonetheless, many prominent users have been found to post baseless conspiracy theories and other forms of disinformation on the platform.

Google says it won’t host the Truth Social app until it offers ‘effective’ systems to moderate user content.

‘On Aug. 19, we notified Truth Social of several violations of standard policies in their current app submission and reiterated that having effective systems for moderating user-generated content is a condition of our terms of service for any app to go live on Google Play,’ Google said in a statement shared with Axios.

Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes previously claimed the app’s release was ‘up to Google Play.’

But Google says it has offered the firm advice on how to meet the marketplace’s standards.

This is the latest in a long line of hurdles for the app, which has faced numerous technical, financial and legal problems since it was first launched earlier this year.

In April, two executives quit the chaotic project, branded ‘a failure’ by some observers.

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