Only weeks after its debut, the pro-Trump social media network GETTR is being flooded with jihadi propaganda from ISIS and other terrorist groups.
According to a report in Politico, the platform has become overwhelmed with terrorist material, including graphic beheading videos and memes promoting jihad.
One viral meme shows a terrorist executing Trump wearing an orange jumpsuit of the kind worn by prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.
GETTR was launched last month by close associates of the ex-president, including Trump’s former spokesperson Jason Miller, as an alternative to traditional Big Tech platforms.
The site advertised itself as “fighting cancel culture, promoting common sense, defending free speech, challenging social media monopolies, and creating a true marketplace of ideas.”
It was started in response to Trump being banned from social media sites, including Twitter and Facebook, claiming ground in the social media landscape as a place where his MAGA supporters could coalesce without worrying about Big Tech censorship.
However, terrorist groups such as ISIS have apparently taken advantage of GETTR’s free speech policy.
“GETTR in the awkward position of providing a safe haven for jihadi extremists online as it attempts to establish itself as a free speech MAGA-alternative to sites like Facebook and Twitter,” reported Politico.
Moustafa Ayad tracks online extremism. He first discovered the massive number of jihadi accounts on GETTR.
“On Facebook, there was on one of these accounts that I follow that is known to be Islamic State, which said ‘Oh, Trump announced his new platform. Inshallah, all the mujahideen will exploit that platform,’” Ayad, executive director for Africa, the Middle East and Asia at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told Politico. “The next day, there were at least 15 accounts on GETTR that were Islamic State.”
GETTR does not share its data with groups tracking the growth of extremist content on its site. However, Politico reported that it found over 250 accounts that had posted jihadi content regularly on the platform since early July, with many of the accounts following each other. The accounts used hashtags to spread terrorist material on the site.
Some of the terrorist posts from early July were eventually removed by GETTR. However, many are reportedly still accessible.
Miller, GETTR’s CEO, said that ISIS was targeting the MAGA movement as a retaliation for Trump’s defeat of the group, reported the Daily Mail.
“ISIS is trying to attack the MAGA movement because President Trump wiped them off the face of the earth, destroying the Caliphate in less than 18 months, and the only ISIS members still alive are keyboard warriors hiding in caves and eating dirt cookies,” he said in a statement. "GETTR has a robust and proactive moderation system that removes prohibited content, maximizing both cutting-edge A.I. technology and human moderation.”