This archive report was first published on 26 October 2021.
On October 26, 2021, former US President Donald Trump revealed his plans to launch a new media company with its own social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump's move comes nine months after he was expelled from social media for his role in inciting the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
According to Trump, his goal in launching the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) 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 crucial to his national rise.
Trump stated, 'We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favourite American President has been silenced, this is unacceptable.'
Conservative voices have been found to perform well on traditional social media, with half of Facebook's top-performing link posts coming from conservative media, commentators, or politicians.
TMTG plans to offer a video-on-demand service, TMTG+, featuring entertainment programming, news, and podcasts, in addition to the Truth Social app.
The company's ambitions extend beyond social media, with plans to become a major player in cloud computing and payments, rivaling Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Stripe.
However, the launch of Truth Social has been marred by security concerns, with hackers affiliated with the group Anonymous breaching a private version of the site and posting profane content.
