The former President of United States, Donald Trump has launched his own social media app, TRUTH Social.
Trump asserted that the app will “stand up to Big Tech” companies such as Twitter and Facebook that have barred him from their platforms.
Trump was permanently banned from Twitter and “indefinitely” suspended from Facebook following the attack on the Capitol on January 6. A variety of other platforms followed suit, either by banning Trump completely or using other methods to stop extremist Trump supporters from planning further riots or spreading misinformation about voter fraud.
That protest came after a speech by Trump in which he claimed that his November election loss was due to widespread fraud, an assertion rejected by multiple courts and state election officials.
A proper launch of the social network will be done next month and full rollout in the first quarter of 2022, as the first of three stages in the company’s plans, followed by a subscription video-on-demand service called TMTG+ that will feature entertainment, news and podcasts, reports said.
According to Reuters, TRUTH Social will be created through a new company formed by a merger of the Trump Media and Technology Group and a special acquisition company (SPAC), according to a press release distributed by both organizations.
“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,” Trump said in a written statement included in the release.
“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,” he said.
In a slide deck on its website, the company envisions eventually competing against Amazon.com’s AWS cloud service and Google Cloud, the report stated further.
A Trump representative who declined to be named confirmed the contents of the TMTG news release to Reuters. Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington also tweeted a copy.
“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.”
The deal will list Trump Media & Technology Group on Nasdaq through a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp, a blank-check acquisition firm led by former investment banker Patrick Orlando.
Trump Media & Technology Group will receive $293 million in cash that Digital World Acquisition Corp had in trust, assuming no shareholder of the acquisition firm chooses to redeem their shares, according to the statement.
The deal values Trump Media & Technology Group at $875 million, including debt, according to the news release.
