Trump announces launch of his own media company, social media site
FILE – In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a rally protesting the electoral college certification of Joe Biden as President in Washington. Trump has filed a lawsuit to block the release of documents to the Jan. 6 select committee, challenging the decision of President Joe Biden to release them. Trump claims in the lawsuit that the request “is almost limitless in scope,” and seeks records with no reasonable connection to that day. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
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NEW YORK (AP) — Nine months after being expelled from social media for his alleged role in inciting the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection, former President Donald Trump announced he’s launching a new media company with its own social media platform.
Trump says his goal in launching the Trump Media & Technology Group and its “Truth Social” app is to create a rival to the Big Tech companies that have shut him out and denied him the megaphone that was paramount to his national rise.
“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced,” he said in a statement. “This is unacceptable.”
Trump has spoken about launching his own social media site ever since he was barred from Twitter and Facebook. An earlier effort to launch a blog on his existing website was abandoned after the page drew dismal views.
In addition to the Truth Social app, which is expected to soft-launch next month with a nationwide rollout early next year, the company says it is planning a video-on-demand service dubbed TMTG+ that will feature entertainment programming, news and podcasts.
Truth Social’s terms of service, meanwhile, bar users from annoying any of the site’s employees and from statements that “disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site.” However, it was not immediately clear who the “us” in that statement refers to.
In a release, the new venture announced it had been created through a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp., and said it seeks to become a publicly listed company.
AP business reporter Alex Veiga and technology editor David Hamilton contributed to this report.
