Matt Hancock, the culture secretary, has built a social network called Matt Hancock MP.

The app, available from Thursday on Android and iOS, is intended to allow the West Suffolk MP to communicate with members of his constituency, as well as update national followers with news related to his cabinet post and party-political messages.

Matt Hancock MP bears more than a passing resemblance to larger social networks such as Facebook. It lets members watch and comment on live streams, post updates to a news feed section called have your say, and make friends with one another and have group chats.

Users are greeted with an autoplaying video of Hancock introducing them to the app and then have to agree to a code of conduct (do: “be yourself”. Don’t: “spam”) before being asked to create an account and log in.

During account creation, the choice to name the app Matt Hancock creates some awkward moments, with system alerts noting that “Matt Hancock would like to access your photos”, “Matt Hancock would like to access your camera” and, on the buggier Android version of the app, “Matt Hancock keeps stopping”.

The platform was built by Disciple Media, a London-based startup that lets influencers create single-purpose apps for their fanbases.

Initially focused on the music business, Disciple has been used by artists including the Rolling Stones and the country musician Luke Bryan. It has since been taken up by others, including celebrity chefs such as Hari Ghotra and the Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor, but Disciple said Hancock is the first politician to use the service.

“The space creates a new opportunity for direct digital democracy,” the company said in a press release. “[It is] a means for Matt Hancock to engage constituents, and for constituents to engage with each other, in a safe, moderated digital environment via a simple-to-use smartphone app”.

Disciple described the app as “offering the interactivity of social media without the pitfalls”, but in the hours following its launch, the evidence seemed to suggest the pitfalls are plentiful.

While Matt Hancock has yet to broadcast a live stream on the app, the comment feed is open where a live stream will eventually be posted. Mocking comments have been shared by users calling themselves Boris Johnson, MattHancockFan69 and Donald J Trump.

The have your say feed, which features an algorithmically curated selection of the “hottest” posts as well as the latest ones, is similarly problematic.

Most of the users are political journalists, people trolling Matt Hancock, or both. The top five posts on the section are four journalists commenting on the app, and one user pretending to be Ed Balls, who has posted the words Ed Balls. It is the second most-liked post on the app.