The new platform comes after Trump was banned by Twitter and Facebook for the 6 January Capitol Hill riot
File photo of Donald Trump. AP
Former United States president Donald Trump is taking the fight to ‘big tech’.
On Wednesday, the former United States president announced plans to launch his own social networking platform called “TRUTH Social,” which is expected to begin its beta launch for “invited guests” next month.
In a statement, Trump said: “I created TRUTH Social… to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech. We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American president has been silenced. This is unacceptable.”
Here’s all you need to know about this new platform.
‘TRUTH Social’
The TRUTH Social app will be owned by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) and is currently available for pre-order on the Apple App Store.
As per a statement, along with social media service, TMTG also plans to launch a subscription video on-demand service called TMTG+, which will feature ‘non-woke’ entertainment programing, news, podcasts and more.
Speaking about his new venture, Trump was quoted as saying: “I am excited to send out my first TRUTH on TRUTH Social very soon. TMTG was founded with a mission to give a voice to all. I’m excited to soon begin sharing my thoughts on TRUTH Social and to fight back against Big Tech. Everyone asks me why doesn’t someone stand up to Big Tech? Well, we will be soon!”
Trump and social media
Trump’s move comes as he was banned from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram earlier this year following the 6 January Capitol Hill riot. The Twitter ban is permanent, with Facebook and Instagram saying they’ll consider reinstating Trump at a later date.
Trump is among those being investigated by the 6 January committee for allegedly knowing about the riot beforehand and helping to organise it.
In the run-up to the 2020 election, Trump repeatedly accused Twitter of exhibiting an “unfair” and “illegal” anti-conservative bias and “stifling of free speech.” He said this, in part, because Twitter had increasingly flagged his false claims about election fraud as “disputed” and because its list of trending topics often included terms that were personally unfavourable to him.
As per a Newsweek report, on 1 May, Trump claimed that “boring” Twitter had regularly lost users since his being banned. In fact, the platform had gained over seven million new daily users since banning Trump.
After his ban from social media networks, Trump had launched a blog called “From the Desk of Donald J Trump” in May. However, it was cancelled a month later.
Ironically, Trump while in office had used Twitter quite extensively, to attack his enemies and often break his own news.
His tweets went viral; who can forget his ‘covfefe’ tweet. For those who have forgotten, Trump baffled all of Twitterverse in May 2017 when he wrote: “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.”
That’s all the tweet said and it soon became a trending topic with all and sundry trying to decode what the US president meant. Alas, there were no answers to it.
But with TRUTH Social close to coming out, obe can’t help but wonder what’s next for social media users.
With inputs from agencies