No, Zelenskyy hasn’t blocked access to Truth Social in Ukraine | Fact check
The claim: Zelenskyy blocked access to Truth Social in Ukraine
A Feb. 20 Threads post (direct link, archive link) claims a social media platform launched years ago by President Donald Trump is no longer available in a certain country.
“Zelensky has reportedly BLOCKED access to Truth Social in Ukraine,” reads the post.
It was liked more than 200 times in a week. A similar post on X from conservative commentator Benny Johnson was reposted more than 8,000 times in a week.
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Our rating: False
A spokesperson for Truth Social's parent company said the claim is false and the social media platform has never been available in the country.
Truth Social was never made available in Ukraine
In October 2021, Trump announced plans for Truth Social after he was banned from other social media platforms in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Truth Social first appeared in Apple’s App Store in February 2022, but it was only accessible to users in the U.S. and Canada at the time.Zelenskyy has not blocked access to Truth Social in Ukraine, as the post claims.
Shannon Devine, a spokesperson for Trump Media and Technology Group, which operates Truth Social, told Paste BN that the claim is false, adding that "Truth Social has never been available in Ukraine."
Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a Feb. 20 X post that any reports of Truth Social being blocked by Ukraine are false.
“Ukraine did not and could not block access because, unfortunately, the social network Truth Social has never made itself available to users in Ukraine,” Tykhyi said.
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Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation also said in a Feb. 20 X post that the claim is false, calling it “Russian propaganda.” No credible news reports support the claim either, and Zelenskyy hasn’t released any statements or posted anything on social media about blocking access to Truth Social.
After a nearly two-year ban, Trump’s Twitter account was restored in November 2022 after billionaire Elon Musk purchased the social media platform, which he later rebranded as X. Meta said in January 2023 that it planned to restore Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, and YouTube made a similar announcement in March 2023.
The social media user who shared the post could not be reached for comment.
PolitiFact and AFP also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources
- Shannon Devine, Feb. 27, Email exchange with Paste BN
- Heorhii Tykhyi, Feb. 20, X post
- Center for Countering Disinformation, Feb. 20, X post
- Pocketnow, Feb. 21, 2022, Truth Social: here are the regions where the Trump social media is available
- President of Ukraine, accessed Feb. 27, All news
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accessed Feb. 27, X account
- Trump Media and Technology Group, accessed Feb. 27, Press Releases
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