PM Modi joins Trump’s Truth Social, thanks U.S. President for posting interview

In a personal outreach, Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined Truth Social, a social media platform whose parent company is majority-owned by U.S. President Donald Trump

Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened an account on Truth Social, the U.S. social media platform whose parent is majority owned by President Donald Trump. Mr. Modi’s first post was a picture of him and Mr. Trump at the Howdy, Modi! rally at Houston, Texas in September 2019. Saying he was “[d]elighted” to be on the platform, Mr. Modi said, “Looking forward to interacting with all the passionate voices here and engaging in meaningful conversations in the times to come.”

Mr. Modi’s second post was also an overture to the U.S. President, thanking Mr. Trump for sharing a video of the three hour interaction the Prime Minister had with podcaster Lex Fridman. “Thank you my friend, President Trump,” Mr. Modi said. “I’ve covered a wide range of topics, including my life journey, India’s civilisational outlook, global issues and more.”

Truth Social was launched by the U.S. president after he was banned on Twitter, now named X, for his role in the January 2021 insurrection where protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol to object to the formal vote counting to certify former president Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. While X’s new owner Elon Musk has restored Mr. Trump’s account, the President continues to post mainly on Truth Social, with just a few posts a week on the other platform.

“Truth Social is delighted to welcome Prime Minister Modi and expect he’ll connect with a new, vibrant audience on our platform,” a spokesperson for the Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., which owns Truth Social, told The Hindu. 

This is not the first time Mr. Modi has joined a social media platform as a form of personal outreach in foreign affairs. In 2015, Mr. Modi joined Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of X, formerly Twitter. There, he posted over 115 times over five years. The Prime Minister exited the platform in the aftermath of the 2020 border clashes with China. 

It is unclear if Truth Social has a significant userbase in India. Estimates in January pegged the number of page visits at around six million per month, with the company making $3.6 million in 2024. The site also does not appear to have taken steps to comply with Indian social media regulations, namely the IT Rules, 2021, which require platforms serving Indian users to have a grievance redressal process to appeal content takedowns and other moderation decisions.

Published - March 17, 2025 09:50 pm IST