announced as launched on June 13, 2014, by Al Jazeera PR with several videos posted to YouTube and a new Facebook page which it refers to as the AJ+ Community along with a new-look website with an updated logo. The channel was soft-launched during a presentation by Al Jazeera on new media at the Global Editors Network summit in Barcelona. The channel soft launched beginning with the tweet "We can confirm that this is our first official tweet. Because that's what real journalism is about. We're @AJPlus. Hello World :)". The tweet was partly a pun of the first tweet sent out by the CIA earlier in the month. In July 2014, the channel created a fellowship program and issued a call for fellows from five regions of the world in North America, South America, The Middle East, Europe, The Asia Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa. In August 2014, the channel branched out to Instagram. On September 15, 2014, the channel launched fully with the release of its mobile app. The launch was attended by Al Jazeera Media Network Director General Mostefa Souag who stated "AJ reshaped media in 1996 when it launched, Sept 15th marks the new phase of change with AJ+". AJ+ Español soft-launched in April 2015 to start testing content in a different language. According to Variety, in June 2015 AJ+ became the second largest news video producer on Facebook, after NowThis News. They are the ninth largest video producer on the platform overall. On August 12, 2015, AJ+ announced the appointment of its first managing director, Dima Khatib. In August 2015, AJ+ released data showing that it has a 600% engagement rate on Facebook, making the network's Facebook page one of the most engaged news brands in the world. As of April 2018, its Facebook page had obtained over ten million 'likes' from users. In October 2015, AJ+ announced that the channel had reached over one billion views across its platforms. In 2017, AJ+ launched a French-language version of the service. In 2018, the English version of the channel moved its operations to Washington D.C. In April 2018, AJ+ ended the use of its mobile apps, moving to content distribution over its website, various social media and YouTube. In September 2020, AJ+ was asked to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in the United States with the Trump Administration charging that the channel has engaged