The former president’s media company Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), merged with the Digital World Acquisition Corp. to become a publicly listed company with a potential valuation of up to $1.7 billion.
Trump announced that TRUTH social would launch in early 2022 and compete with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. He also announced plans to launch a ”subscription video-on-demand service” to rival Google’s YouTube.
Revealing his plans, Trump said the new platform would “stand up to the tyranny of big tech”, accusing them of silencing opposing voices in the US.
“I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech,” Trump wrote in his announcement Wednesday night, October 20.
“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.”
He noted that this move fulfilled his promise to create a conservative media competitor to combat the liberal activism against his administration and the 2020 presidential campaign.
“I am excited to send out my first TRUTH on TRUTH Social very soon,” Trump added. ”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.”
“Everyone asks me why doesn’t someone stand up to Big Tech? Well, we will be soon!”
TMTG+ would be a subscription video-on-demand service which “will feature ‘non-woke’ entertainment programming, news, podcasts, and more”, the news release revealed.
Trump’s political campaign for presidency had significantly relied on social media, and these platforms were his favourite means of communication as president.
However, after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, the former president was banned from Twitter and his Facebook account suspended.
Social media platforms received numerous calls to ban Donald Trump throughout his presidency, describing his posts as insulting, inflammatory or peddling outright falsehoods.
Twitter and Facebook began deleting some of his posts and labelling others as misleading, including a post where he claimed COVID was “less lethal” than the flu.
