Former US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that he would be launching a new social network, "TRUTH Social", that purports to "stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech."
In a statement, Trump announced that the app will begin its beta launch for invited guests in November 2021. A national rollout is expected in the first quarter of 2022.
“I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech. 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,” said the former President.
“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. Everyone asks me why doesn’t someone stand up to Big Tech? Well, we will be soon!” he added.
Facebook banned Trump from its platform in the wake of the riots on the US Capitol on January 6 and then referred its decision to the independent Oversight Board, a panel of experts and civic leaders from around the world that was established last year.
The Oversight Board later upheld the suspension of Trump, but also said Facebook should determine a "proportionate response" that is consistent with rules applied to other users of the platform.
Twitter also shut down Trump’s account following the Capitol riots and later approved a permanent ban on the former President.
Twitter and Facebook were the first of many companies to take action against Trump, and were followed by Google which suspended Trump's YouTube channel, Reddit which banned some pro-Trump forums, and Snapchat, which permanently banned Trump’s account on the day he left office.
After he was removed from the various social media platforms, Trump briefly ran a blog where he shared statements, but that blog was shut down after less than a month.