Hillicon Valley — Trump-backed app goes live

by Rebecca Klar and Chris Mills Rodrigo - 02/21/22 6:43 PM ET

Today is Monday. Welcome to Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Subscribe here: digital-stage.thehill.com/newsletter-signup.

Follow The Hill’s tech team, Chris Mills Rodrigo (@millsrodrigo) and Rebecca Klar (@rebeccaklar_), for more coverage.

The social media platform Truth Social, which is backed by former President Trump, became available for iPhone users Monday. The first day of operation, like last week’s beta testing, was full of bugs and excessive load times. Despite those issues, based on waiting lines for registration, hundreds of thousands of users signed up for the new app.

In other news, the IRS has outlined its plan to let taxpayers bypass the facial recognition requirement in ID.me’s verification process.

Let’s jump into the news.

‘Truth Social’ launches

A close-up of a person's hands using a phone

Truth Social, the social media platform backed by former President Trump, launched in the Apple App Store Monday, although the product does not appear to be fully functional for all users.

People who downloaded the app Monday were invited to register for the platform but were mostly added to a growing wait list.

One beta tester with early access to the platform told The Hill the app slowed down significantly Sunday evening when users started getting added en masse.

Former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), who left Congress to head Trump’s media company, had previously said the app would be fully operational by the end of March.

Using Trump’s followers as a metric, roughly 5,000 users were added by close of business Monday.

IRS drops facial recognition requirement

The IRS announced Monday that it will allow taxpayers to opt out of using facial recognition technology for identity verification.

Those trying to access their online accounts can instead verify their identity through a live, virtual interview with a representative from a third-party service, ID.me.

The IRS announced earlier this month that it would be transitioning away from ID.me after uproar from lawmakers and digital rights activists over plans to require facial recognition verification to access tax information.

Facial recognition has been found to do consistently worse at identifying people of color, though taxpayers will still be able to use the technology for verification if they so choose.

BIG APPLE FINE

The Dutch antitrust watchdog Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) fined Apple 5 million euros, or $5.7 million, on Monday over access to non-Apple payment methods for subscriptions to dating apps.

The ACM says the tech giant is abusing its dominant market position by failing to allow application makers in the Netherlands to use other payment methods for dating apps accessible through the company’s App Store, according to Reuters.

The fine is the fifth such penalty in consecutive weeks in a row, the wire service reported, as Apple had missed a Jan. 15 deadline to make changes that the ACM had mandated. The watchdog noted that Apple has not made any new proposal to comply with the ruling.

“We have clearly explained to Apple how they can comply,” the agency said in a statement, according to Reuters. “So far, however, they have refused to put forward any serious proposals.”

BITS AND PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: The alarm industry is ringing a false alarm on 3G

Lighter click: Go treat yourself to some highlights

Notable links from around the web:

$1.7 million in NFTs stolen in apparent phishing attack on OpenSea users (The Verge / Russell Brandom)

Uber Eats vs. DoorDash: The delivery wars are heating up (Protocol / Sarah Roach)

Facebook ‘lets vigilantes in Ethiopia incite ethnic killing’ (The Guardian / Jasper Jackson, Lucy Kassa and Mark Townsend)

One last thing: Australia demands answers

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday called on Beijing to explain a recent “reckless” incident in which a Chinese warship allegedly used a laser to illuminate an Australian jet off of Australia’s northern coast.

Last week, a P-8A Poseidon detected a laser illuminating off of a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy vessel. According to Australia’s Defence Force, illuminating the aircraft with a laser could have endangered the safety of the personnel on board.

“This was dangerous, it was unprofessional and it was reckless for a professional navy, and we want some answers as to why they did this,” Morrison said Monday, CNN reported. “At worst, it was intimidating and bullying.”

“They’re the ones who need to explain, not just to Australia, but to think of all the countries in our region,” he continued. “It could occur to anyone else who is just simply doing the normal surveillance of their own Exclusive Economic Zone.”

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s technology and cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you Tuesday.