Trump's new social media platform won't allow users to 'disparage' it

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced he’s launching a new social media platform, named “TRUTH Social,” that he said is meant to “fight back” against “Big Tech,” which he accused of trying to “silence opposing voices in America.”

But ironically, given the name of the operation, the terms of service that users must agree to in order to join the platform state that users cannot “disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site.”

That means the rules of the purportedly anti-censorship platform include a clause censoring its users.

Trump has long threatened to start a social media site since he was booted from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube for inciting violence on Jan. 6.

That day, as insurrectionists broke into the U.S. Capitol building in an attempt to stop the transfer of power from Trump to President Joe Biden, violently attacking law enforcement as they did so, Trump tweeted a video praising them.

“I know your pain, I know you’re hurt, we had an election that was stolen from us, it was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now,” Trump said in the video as the insurrection was ongoing and lawmakers and staff in the Capitol were hunkered in safe rooms and hiding in offices from the mob. “We love you. You’re very special.”

Twitter has said his ban is permanent, but Facebook plans to take another look at whether to allow Trump back on its platform in 2023. YouTube said in March that it will let him back on if it determines that there has been a decrease in the threat of “real-world violence.”

“I created TRUTH Social … to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech,” Trump said in the release announcing his new site. “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. I am excited to send out my first TRUTH Social very soon.”

Over his four years in office, the Washington Post tallied at least 30,573 “false or misleading claims” made by Trump, an average of 21 per day. 

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.