Trump launches new social media platform TRUTH Social

Former US President Donald Trump has announced plans to launch a new social media network, called TRUTH Social.

He said the platform “resist the tyranny of big technology”, accusing them of silencing opposing voices in the United States.

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which he chairs, also plans to launch a subscription video on demand service.

Trump was banned or suspended from social networks like Twitter and Facebook after crowds of his supporters stormed the United States Capitol in January.

He and his advisors have since hinted that they were planning to create a rival social media site.

Earlier this year, he launched From the Desk of Donald J Trump, which has often been referred to as a blog.

The website was permanently shut down less than a month after its launch. His senior assistant Jason Miller said he was “only auxiliary to the larger efforts we have and are working on.”

A first version of its latest venture, TRUTH Social, will be open to invited guests next month and will have a “nationwide launch” within the first three months of 2022, according to a TMTG statement.

“We live in a world where the Taliban have a huge presence on Twitter, but your favorite American president has been silenced,” Trump wrote.

“Everyone asks me why doesn’t anyone oppose Big Tech? Well, we’ll do it soon!” He added.

Donald Trump’s team is making a big deal out of it. Yet there are no indications that the new company still has a functioning platform. The new site is just a registration page.

He wants to create a platform that rivals Twitter or Facebook, but that’s just not going to happen.

By its very nature, the platform is openly politicized. It won’t be an idea shop like Twitter, or a place where the whole family is like Facebook.

It could be a more successful version of other “free speech” social media platforms like Parler or Gab.

Donald Trump clearly wants his megaphone back. He thinks this could be his ticket. But if he really wants to be heard, he needs Big Tech platforms to let him come back, and that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

TMTG said its video on demand service “will contain entertainment, news, podcasts and more”.

The company said it intends to merge with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

The SPACs are set up with the aim of acquiring a private company with which to merge and then go public.

SPACs, also called “blank check companies,” have seen a surge in popularity in recent years and are seen as a faster path to publicizing companies with less scrutiny.

Trump’s announcement comes months after his former aide Jason Miller launched another social media company called GETTR.