Donald Trump launches Truth Social app in challenge to Big Tech

Donald Trump will launch his own social media app “to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech” after being banned from Twitter and Facebook over the attack on the US Capitol.

The former US president said he would use the Truth Social platform to share his thoughts as he announced the formation of the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) with an initial valuation of $875 million.

“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favourite American President has been silenced,” he said. “This is unacceptable.”

“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!”

Trump, 75, has often talked about setting up a rival to Facebook and Twitter while complaining that his expulsion from their platforms nine months ago amounted to “censorship”. In July he launched a class-action lawsuit against Google, Facebook and Twitter but constitutional experts said it was doomed to fail because the First Amendment only protects US citizens from government censorship, not private companies.

Trump’s previous attempt to speak directly to his followers, via the blog site “From the Desk of Donald J Trump”, was abandoned after less than a month. There were reports of poor readership figures.

Truth Social is due to officially launch for “invited guests” next month and its listing on Apple’s app store revealed a strong resemblance to Twitter, including handles beginning with the @ symbol. Within minutes of the announcement the technology journalist Mikael Thalen said that he had been able to set up an account using the username @donaldtrump before the beta site was taken offline.

However, Trump’s ambitions appear to be far grander than replicating the success of his Twitter account, which amassed 88.7 million followers by the time it was suspended in January, after thousands of his supporters stormed the US Capitol to try to disrupt the confirmation of Joe Biden’s election victory.

Plans for a video-on-demand service to take on Netflix and Disney+ with a selection of “non-woke” entertainment programmes, news and podcasts were also confirmed. An online presentation also suggested that TMTG sought to move into cloud computing and online payments.

TMTG announced it had been created through a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company based in Miami, and would seek to become a publicly listed company.

DWA said it had raised roughly $293 million in cash. Its biggest shareholders include the investment firms Lighthouse Investment Partners, DE Shaw & Co, and Radcliffe Capital Management, according to an official filing.