There are many things the world needs right now, but it’s debatable whether it’s crying out for a new social media platform, especially when it’s the brainchild of former US president Donald Trump.
The ex-President is set to launch ‘Truth’ as part of his new enterprise, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), founded in early 2021 to tackle so-called political discrimination, cancel culture and stand up to “Big Tech” by taking its “anti-woke” agenda to social media.
“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite [sic] American President has been silenced. This is unacceptable,” TMTG chairman Donald Trump said in a statement.
It came as TMTG entered into a merger agreement with Digital World Acquisition Corp., enabling the Trump-backed enterprise to become a publicly listed company and fund the pro-conservative media company’s plans to the tune of US$293 million.
The company said its initial valuation is US$875 million, which could rise to US$1.7 billion depending on stock performance post-business combination. However, it’s been reported that details to do with financing, how stock performance will be measured and investor details have not been fully fleshed out.
A plan to create a plan to tackle Big Tech
Taking aim at Facebook and Twitter after his suspensions, the Trump-led TMTG has big plans to take on some of the giants across social and mainstream media with a goal to create a rival social media platform, streaming platform and even a news service.
The company’s stated mission is to create a rival to the “liberal media consortium and fight back against the "Big Tech” companies of Silicon Valley, which have used their unilateral power to silence opposing voices in America,” it said in a statement.
“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!,” Trump said in the statement.
TMTG is envisaged as a multi-service platform, using social media and streaming to take on the so-called censoring power of Big Tech and its cancel culture, woke agenda.
“They are not just censoring content – they are determining what can and cannot be said. By controlling how information is shared, they control the narrative. They control the future. They control you,” it said.
TMTG wants to help redress what it sees as the imbalance in mainstream media that has swung “dangerously far to the left” and will “forcibly silence voices that do not align with their woke ideology".
Trumps wants to get the fangs into Big Tech
The social media platform, to be known as Truth Social, is available for pre-order in the US Apple App store and is expected to start its Beta launch for invited guests in November 2021.
It’s described as a “Big Tent” social media platform that “encourages an open, free and honest global conversation without discriminating against political ideology”.
While it wants to encourage “free speech” it is actively discouraging capitalisation. In a surprise move given Donald Trump’s prolific use of ALL CAPS, the social platform is actually prohibiting the excessive use of capital letters.
However, soon after its launch, the site was reportedly hit by pranksters making fake accounts for Donald Trump and Mike Pence, and reports have pointed out that users waive all rights and any and all defences.
Looking to tackle woke streaming and with a nod to Disney, it’s subscription video on demand service will be known as TMTG+ and will feature “non-woke” entertainment, news, podcasts and more. Executive producer Scott St. John’s credits include Deal or No Deal and America’s Got Talent.
A news service, TMTG News, has also been mentioned although no details have been made available of the company’s plans to counter mainstream media.
“I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech,” Trump said in the company statement.
And just who is Big Tech that TMTG wants to take on? It’s the so-called “FAANG monopoly” that consists of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google that it wants to usurp.
Truth Social is taking aim at Twitter and Facebook, TMTG+ and TMTG News is going up against Netflix, Disney+, CNN and iHeartMedia, while it even has ambitions to enter the enterprise space with a long-term plan to develop a product called TMTG Tech Stack that could rival AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and Stripe.
The company overview said there is a massive market opportunity to build a global “non-cancellable global community” and its modest agenda is to “galvanise a conservative media universe” and also unify the fragmented “non-Big Tech universe.”
