KOCHI — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become one of the few world leaders to join Truth Social, the social media platform owned by US President Donald Trump.

In his first post on Monday, Modi shared a photo with Trump taken in Houston, Texas, during his 2019 US visit and said he was "delighted" to be on the platform.

Trump launched Truth Social in February 2022 after he lost the presidential election to Joe Biden and was temporarily banned from major social networks like Twitter and Facebook, which accused him of inciting violence.

As of 03:30 GMT, Modi had 21,500 followers and was following Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.

On Monday, Trump shared a link to an interview that Modi did with podcaster Lex Fridman where the Indian prime minister spoke on a range of topics, including his life journey, the Gujarat riots of 2002 and India's relationship with China.

Much of Truth Social's functionality is identical to X, formerly Twitter. Users are able to post 'truths' or 'retruths' as well as send direct messages. Adverts on the platform are called 'sponsored truths'.

Truth Social is owned by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). Trump took the company public in March 2024 and now owns about 57% shares in the firm.

Kuwaiti-headquartered investment firm ARC Global Investments and some former Apprentice contestants also have a sizeable stakes, though those holdings are currently subject to legal fights.

The US president has 9.28m followers on Truth Social, far fewer than the 87m he has on X.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg, traffic at Truth Social remains minuscule relative to its competitors, with its total user numbers trailing X by 400 times.

TMTG reported losses of $400m (£308m) in 2024 and a revenue of $3.6m. It has a market valuation of $4.45bn. — BBC