Nine months after being expelled from Twitter and Facebook for his role in inciting the January 6 Capitol insurrection, former president Donald Trump has announced he’s launching a new media company with its own social media platform.
Trump says his goal in launching the Trump Media & Technology Group and its “TRUTH Social” app is to create a rival to the big tech companies that have shut him out and denied him the megaphone that was paramount to his national rise.
“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favourite American President has been silenced,” he said in a statement. “This is unacceptable.”
Trump has spoken about launching his own social media site ever since he was barred from Twitter and Facebook. An earlier effort to launch a blog on his existing website was abandoned after the page drew dismal views.
“For so long, Big Tech has suppressed conservative voices,” the former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr, told Fox News in an interview. “Tonight my father signed a definitive merger agreement to form what will ultimately be the Trump Media and Technology Group and TRUTH Social – a platform for everyone to express their feelings.”
Twitter has barred Trump permanently, and Facebook announced earlier this year that he would remain suspended from its networks for at least two years and would be reinstated in 2023 only if “the risk to public safety” has subsided.
Trump has been looking to recapture the ability to connect with supporters, raise money and drive news coverage that he lost with his access to social-media platforms, especially Twitter. During his presidency, Trump relied on Twitter for everything from insulting rivals to major policy announcements.
Without social media, Trump had been relegated to issuing press releases – which he often does several times a day in a format similar to his tweets – holding campaign-style rallies and giving interviews to friendly media outlets.
Source: Smh