Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced his plans to launch his own social media platform, TRUTH Social. According to a press release he said Truth was created to “stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech” companies such as Twitter and Facebook that have barred him from their platforms.
“I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech,” Trump said in the statement.
The app, which is available for pre-order in Apple’s App Store, will open to invitees in November and to the public in the first quarter of 2022, the release said.
TRUTH Social will be launched by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), a recently created company that’s aiming to go public via a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company.
Trump’s announcement comes after months of speculation about his plans to create his own media operation after nearly every major social media platform – including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube – banned or suspended him for violating their policies.
“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. 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,” Trump said in a written statement included in the release.
The social network, set for a beta launch next month and full rollout in the first quarter of 2022, is 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, according to the news release.
In a slide deck on its website, the company envisions eventually competing against Amazon.com’s AWS cloud service and Google Cloud.
The former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., told Fox News in an interview, “for so long, Big Tech has suppressed conservative voices, 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, Facebook and other social media platforms banned Trump from their services after hundreds of his supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
That protest came after a speech by Trump in which he falsely claimed that his November election loss was due to widespread fraud, an assertion rejected by multiple courts and state election officials.
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.
