The mainstream media is preparing to gird their loins because Donald Trump’s new social media platform, TRUTH Social, will make its public debut very soon. In fact, beta testers are already on the platform now.
“I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech,” Trump said in October. “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. I am excited to send out my first TRUTH on TRUTH Social very soon.”
True enough, Trump made his first post on the platform on Tuesday.
Time for some Truth!!! pic.twitter.com/jvyteDb5gW
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) February 15, 2022
Are you excited yet? Trump fans have been waiting for his new social media platform for what seems like forever. But unfortunately, Twitter just hasn’t been much fun since he was permanently banned in the wake of the Capitol riot, and big tech has only become more fascistic, censoring conservative voices.
The website for TRUTH Social is supposed to go live on Presidents’ Day—you gotta love the symbolism, right?—and the platform will undoubtedly see tremendous growth upon launch, as conservatives are finding big tech social media platforms to be increasingly hostile towards them.
TRUTH Social wouldn’t even exist had Twitter not banned Trump and decided to police speech. But the need for alternative platforms is bigger than just one man. Big tech has systematically turned its once-thriving social media platforms into liberal safe spaces where conservatives cannot speak or earn money. A few months ago, I was suspended for pointing out that Rachel Levine is a man. If stating a biological fact is enough to get you suspended, anything that is deemed wrongthink by the left is liable to get you banned.
The platform does have a lot going for it. It’s a project of Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which raised over $1 billion from investors. “The time has come to reopen the Internet and allow for the free flow of ideas and expression without censorship,” said former Congressman Devin Nunes in December. Nunes recently left Congress to be TMTG’s CEO. “The United States of America made the dream of the Internet a reality and it will be an American company that restores the dream.”
The platform also has some issues. The biggest problem it has is that it is essentially a Twitter clone, which will inevitably be an echo chamber for Trump supporters. Does anyone really believe that anyone but Trump supporters will join TRUTH Social? If Obama launched his own social media platform, I certainly wouldn’t join it.
Will I use TRUTH Social? Sure. As a writer, I’m primarily interested in seeing the marketing potential TRUTH Social offers, though, to be honest, I have my doubts. Twitter isn’t even great at generating clicks, and my reach there is much higher than any other free speech alternatives like GETTR.
Of course, TRUTH Social has something going for it that no other platform does: it has Trump. Trump returning to social media, even his own platform, is no small thing. Sure, Trump regularly releases statements, but it’s just not the same as when he was on Twitter, and TRUTH Social will hopefully fill that void.
