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Former President Donald Trump has often accused social media companies of censoring him, so he's responded by launching a social media platform of his own.
The new platform, Truth Social, promises "open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating against political ideology." It is part of the new Trump Media Technology Group (TMTG).
In a statement, Trump made clear that the new social media platform would, in his eyes, serve as the antithesis to "Big Tech":
"I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up against 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 press release reporters are getting is legit - confirmed to me by sources close to former President Trump. He is launching a media company with a social media platform called \u201cTRUTH Social\u201d.pic.twitter.com/b417jq6Xkd— John Santucci (@John Santucci) 1634776272
There's a catch to Truth Social, however: You can't actually make fun of it.
Truth Social's terms of service include a clause stating that users may not "disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site."
Naturally, this little fact did not go unnoticed by the former President's critics, and they were quick to highlight his hypocrisy
"This platforms for those kicked off other platforms for breaking the rules, pushing false information & instigating riots. We offer complete freedom of speech. Unless you say anything about trump or call us out on bullshit, then you'll be banned, but it's about freedom of speechhttps://twitter.com/lisatozzi/status/1451186188862189570\u00a0\u2026— Flaps ohoolahan (@Flaps ohoolahan) 1634837258
Hmmm. Seems like free speech isn\u2019t free to give it it is critical of the opinion of the site or the owners. More authoritarianism from Trumpism.https://twitter.com/lisatozzi/status/1451186188862189570\u00a0\u2026— Scott Heister (@Scott Heister) 1634828307
The rest of us can say TrumpTruth is a disaster, a grift, a con, the worst thing to ever to happen to social media in history, a farce, a waste, a sewage pit of despair, built for the ugly, the uneducated, the racists, and the rubes. #TrumpTrashhttps://twitter.com/ktumulty/status/1451237751668584450\u00a0\u2026— Chris \u201cCal\u201d Carnahan \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@Chris \u201cCal\u201d Carnahan \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1634840919
Hahaha\n"Truth" you can join my club but you can't say anything mean about mehttps://twitter.com/ktumulty/status/1451237751668584450\u00a0\u2026— Liberal Momma (@Liberal Momma) 1634842663
Lol preemptively canceling people who hurt their feelings.https://twitter.com/ktumulty/status/1451237751668584450\u00a0\u2026— Brett Glover (@Brett Glover) 1634844034
So you have the freedom to talk bad about anyone and everyone except Trump lol......you can't make this up folkshttps://twitter.com/lisatozzi/status/1451186188862189570\u00a0\u2026— CryptoCane (@CryptoCane) 1634825139
Would this be censorship?https://twitter.com/lisatozzi/status/1451186188862189570\u00a0\u2026— Rickey Woody #Vote Blue #Democracy #LincolnProject (@Rickey Woody #Vote Blue #Democracy #LincolnProject) 1634827274
The terms of "Truth Social," the social media site Trump is launching, include that you may not "disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site."\n\nEven censorship-heavy Facebook/Twitter don't go as far as making their companies protected from criticism.pic.twitter.com/CzgcVB6zuw— Ford Fischer (@Ford Fischer) 1634822569
This is just too funny. This guy is the softest weakest wet limped noodle imaginable. https://twitter.com/ktumulty/status/1451237751668584450\u00a0\u2026— Brad Kratz (@Brad Kratz) 1634838742
Truth Social was barely online before it fell victim to hackers, as reported by The Washington Post:
"Former president Donald Trump and his team declared Wednesday night that they would soon launch a media powerhouse" that would help them triumph in their long-running war against Big Tech."
"But within hours, pranksters found what appeared to be an unreleased test version and posted a picture of a defecating pig to the "donaldjtrump" account."
The site has since been pulled offline.
Trump has often accused Twitter of limiting prominent conservative voices on its platform.
In 2018, while still in office, he claimed that Twitter is "SHADOW BANNING prominent Republicans" in response to a news story that alleged accounts owned by Republicans were showing up in a general search of the website but not automatically populating when typing their names in the drop-down bar.
Twitter later issued a response, attributing the issue to a platform bug.