Former US President Donald Trump is planning to launch his own social media platform, dubbed ‘TRUTH Social.’ The Republican leader’s announcement comes nine months after he was barred from some major social media platforms for his role in inciting the January 6 Capitol insurgency.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Trump stated that his goal in launching the Trump Media & Technology Group and its “TRUTH Social” app is to create a competitor to the Big Tech companies that have shut him out and denied him the megaphone that has been critical to his national rise.
“We live in a world where the Taliban has a massive following on Twitter, but your favourite American President has been silenced,” he said in a statement. “This is intolerable.”
The new venture announced in a release that it was formed through a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. and that it aspires to become a publicly-traded company.
Trump, the 45th President of the United States, has expressed interest in launching his own social media platform since being barred from Twitter and Facebook. He launched a blog called “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” in May 2021, which was billed as a major new outlet.
In addition to the app, which is expected to soft-launch next month with a nationwide rollout early next year, the company is planning a video-on-demand service with entertainment programming, news, and podcasts.
But, after being barred from Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat in the aftermath of the Capitol chaos, Trump cancelled the blog just a month later.
Former Trump aide Jason Miller launched Gettr earlier this year, but the former president has yet to join it.