Truth Social

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Truth Social
Type of site
Social networking service
Founded2021
IndustryInternet
URLtruthsocial.com
Current statusUnreleased

Truth Social (also stylized TRUTH Social) is a proposed social media platform to be launched by Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). It is planned to have a limited launch on Apple's App Store in November 2021, and a full public launch in 2022.[1][2]

Background

Former President of the United States Donald Trump raised the prospect of building a new social media platform after he was banned from Facebook and Twitter in 2021, following his response to the 2021 United States Capitol attack.[3] In May 2021, Trump launched "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump", a site where he posted short tweet-like announcements; USA Today reported in early June that it was shut down after less than a month.[4]

History

On October 20, 2021, Trump Media & Technology Group issued a press release which announced the platform, slated to enter limited beta on iOS in November 2021 before a 2022 public launch.[5][1][2]

Hours after the press release, a person identifying themselves as a part of the hacker collective Anonymous used Shodan to discover domains related to the company, eventually locating what appeared to be a publicly-accessible mobile beta of the website. The URL, which permitted users to sign up and use the platform, was leaked across social media.[6] Users began trolling on the site, creating parody accounts, and posting humorous and comedic content. Users were able to sign up with usernames of high-profile individuals including Trump, Mike Pence, and Jack Dorsey.[7] The link was later taken offline.[8]

Truth Social is based on Mastodon, free and open-source software that is released under the AGPLv3 license. AGPLv3 requires any derivative source code to be publicly available. Because Truth Social's terms describe its software as proprietary, Mastodon founder and lead developer Eugen Rochko has said: "that would be a problem, as that would indicate a license violation".[9] On October 22, the Software Freedom Conservancy said that Truth Social was in violation of the terms of the license, and that TMTG had 30 days to comply.[10][11]

Terms of service

When the company was first announced in October 2021, its terms of service[12] said the company would not be legally responsible for "the content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions [or] reliability" of anything users might post to the site. Some commentators noted that this self-declared immunity appeared to rely on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that Trump firmly opposed during his presidency.[13][14][15]

The terms of service further added that users would be forbidden to "disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site". Truth Social said it has the right to "suspend or terminate your account" and also "take appropriate legal action".[14]

Company and finances

On October 20, 2021, the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) announced a merger with Trump Media & Technology Group. The merger valued the Trump Media & Technology Group at $875 million, as of October 21, 2021.[16] On October 21, 2021, shares of DWAC rose by 400%, from $10 to $45.50, following the announcement of Truth Social.[17] The next day, the stock price increased by an additional factor of two.[18] Trading of the company's stock was halted multiple times due to its volatility.[17] The run-up in stock price was considered similar to the GameStop short squeeze earlier that year.[18] SPACs are structured such that they first sell shares to the public and then raise funds from investors to later acquire a private company, the identity of which cannot be known by investors in advance. Some investors were surprised to learn that their investment money was being used to finance a Trump company. SPACs have long had questionable reputations because they can give companies access to public markets that would otherwise be difficult, due to a poor or nonexistent track record.[19][20]

The company applied for trademarks on the name "Truth Social" and other terms including "truthing", "retruth", and "post a truth".[8][21][22]

Technology

Truth Social uses a custom version of the free and open-source software Mastodon, which is typically used to connect to a broader collection of social networking websites known as the Fediverse. Truth Social's version of Mastodon removes several features, including polls and post visibility options.[9] The platform is modeled heavily after Twitter. Users can make posts ("truths") and share other users' posts ("retruths"). The platform also features a newsfeed, called a "truth feed", as well as a notification system.[8]

On October 21, 2021, It was reported by The Daily Dot staff writer Mikael Thalen that Truth Social is testing out using Pleroma as the backend of the platform.[23]

Reception

Pre-launch

BBC journalist James Clayton stated that the platform could be a more successful version of other alt-tech social media platforms like Parler and Gab, and is an attempt by Trump to gain his "megaphone" back.[24] Chris Cillizza of CNN wrote that the platform was doomed to fail.[25]

The Irish Times identified the similarity between the names Truth Social and Pravda (lit. "Truth"), formerly the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[26] Noah Berlatsky, writing in The Independent, described it as a potential threat to democracy.[27]

The Forward raised concerns of antisemitism becoming prominent on the platform, noting similar platforms that have become known for hosting antisemitic content, such as Parler, Gab and Telegram.[28]

Rolling Stone observed that while Truth Social promises to be an open and free platform, Truth Social's terms of service include a clause stating that users cannot disparage the site.[29]

Gettr CEO Jason Miller, a former advisor of Trump, praised Truth Social, said that the platform will cause Facebook and Twitter to "lose even more market share".[30]

Gab said in a statement that it supports Truth Social and that users of Gab can follow Trump on his reserved Gab account.[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Choi, Joseph (October 20, 2021). "Trump announces new social media network called 'TRUTH Social'". The Hill. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Sonnemaker, Tyler (October 21, 2021). "Trump announces plans to launch new social media platform called TRUTH Social in the first quarter of 2022". Business Insider. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  3. ^ Santucci, Jeanine (October 20, 2021). "Donald Trump announces new social media platform, Truth Social, after being banned from major apps". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  4. ^ "No more 'From The Desk of Donald J. Trump': Former president shut down blog launched just a month ago". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 18, 2021. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
  5. ^ "Announcing Trump Media & Technology Group" (Press release). Palm Beach, Florida, US: Trump Media & Technology Group. October 20, 2021. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021.
  6. ^ Thalen, Mikael (October 21, 2021). "Here's how a hacker was able to blow up Trump's new free speech site". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  7. ^ Pitofsky, Marina (October 22, 2021). "Donald Trump's social media platform hacked just hours after it was announced, reports say". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Harwell, Drew (October 21, 2021). "Pranksters have already defaced Trump's new social network". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Mastodon's Founder Says Trump's New Social Network Is Just Mastodon". www.vice.com. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  10. ^ Robertson, Adi (October 22, 2021). "Trump's social network has 30 days to stop breaking the rules of its software license". The Verge. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  11. ^ Kuhn, Bradley M. (October 21, 2021). "Trump's Social Media Platform and the Affero General Public License (of Mastodon)". Conservancy Blog. Software Freedom Conservancy. Archived from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  12. ^ "Terms of Service". truthsocial.com. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  13. ^ Harwell, Drew (October 21, 2021). "Pranksters have already defaced Trump's new social network". Washington Post. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  14. ^ a b McCluskey, Megan (October 22, 2021). "What to Know About What's Allowed on Trump's New 'TRUTH' Social Media Platform". Time. Retrieved October 23, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ Swisher, Kara (October 22, 2021). "Opinion | Trump to Twitter: I Can't Make You Love Me". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  16. ^ Whitcomb, Dan (October 21, 2021). "Former U.S. president Donald Trump launches 'TRUTH' social media platform". Reuters. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021.
  17. ^ a b Mangan, Dan; Li, Yun; Wilkie, Christina (October 21, 2021). "Shares of Trump-linked SPAC surge 400% following news of social media deal". CNBC. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  18. ^ a b Ostroff, Amrith Ramkumar and Caitlin (October 22, 2021). "DWAC, the Trump Social-Media SPAC, Soars in GameStop-Like Frenzy". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  19. ^ David Enrich; Matthew Goldstein; Shane Goldmacher (October 21, 2021). "Trump Takes Advantage of Wall Street Fad to Bankroll New Venture". The New York TImes.
  20. ^ Arash Massoudi; Antoine Gara; James Fontanella-Khan (October 22, 2021). "Hedge funds make millions as shares in Trump media Spac jump". Financial Times. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
  21. ^ Choma, Russ (October 22, 2021). "Did Trump's media company really just trademark the term "truthing"?". Mother Jones. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  22. ^ McKay, Tom (October 22, 2021). "It Sure Looks Like Donald Trump Is Trying to Trademark 'Truthing'". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  23. ^ "It appears the team behind Trump's social media platform 'TRUTH Social' have been testing out several versions of the site, including one based on Pleroma". Twitter. Retrieved October 24, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ "Trump to launch new social media platform TRUTH Social". BBC News. October 21, 2021. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  25. ^ Cillizza, Chris (October 21, 2021). "3 reasons why Donald Trump's new social media company is doomed to fail". CNN. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  26. ^ "The Irish Times view on Donald Trump's social network: Truth and lies". The Irish Times. October 21, 2021. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  27. ^ Berlatsky, Noah (October 21, 2021). "Trump's 'Truth Social' could be more of a threat to democracy than it looks". The Independent. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 22, 2021.
  28. ^ Fox, Mira (October 21, 2021). "Trump's new social media platform about 'truth' doesn't seem safe for Jews". The Forward. Retrieved October 23, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  29. ^ Bort, Ryan (October 21, 2021). "Trump's New Free Speech App Prohibits Users From Making Fun of It". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  30. ^ Vlamis, Kelsey (October 20, 2021). "Ex-Trump aide who founded 'free speech' app GETTR says he couldn't come to a deal with Trump, who has just announced a new social platform of his own". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  31. ^ Ramkumar, Amrith (October 21, 2021). "DWAC, the Trump Social-Media SPAC, Quadruples". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved October 26, 2021.
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