A listing in Apple’s App Store indicates that former US President Donald Trump’s media group is planning to launch its long-promised social network in February.
One of Trump’s visions for the upcoming platform is for it to be an alternative to Silicon Valley internet companies, which he claims are biased against him and other conservative voices.
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The 75-year-old Donald Trump was barred from using Facebook, and YouTube after last year’s January 6 insurrection, when a mob of supporters riled by his repeated false claims that the November 2020 election had been stolen from him assaulted the US Capitol.
He was also permanently banned from Twitter – one of his preferred methods of communication while president for incitement, and “glorification of violence”.
As indicated in the listing, the “Truth Social” app is “expected” to go live on February 21 and will have features similar to those found in Facebook’s online connection tools.
Currently, invited guests are using the social network as it gets ready for public launch, according to Trump Media and Technology Group.
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Truth Social will join an already crowded market of social networks popular among conservatives and members of the far-right.
Gettr, Parler, and Gab are already favoured by Trump supporters. Gettr was launched in July by a former adviser to the real estate mogul.
On the one year anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riot, President Joe Biden ripped into Donald Trump, decrying his “lies” and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. On the first anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riots, he promised he would not let anyone put a “dagger at the throat of democracy.”
Having ignored Trump for more than a year, Biden has now taken off the gloves, calling the Republican a cheat whose ego wouldn’t allow him to accept defeat and whose supporters nearly destroyed US democracy when they stormed Congress to prevent certification of the election.
Also read | In his speech on the anniversary of Capitol riots, Biden deems Trump as a ‘defeated former President’
With millions of followers, Trump has spent the last year spreading conspiracy theories about his election loss. He quickly shot back with a series of statements doubling down on his lie about the “rigged” election and dismissing Biden’s speech as “political theater.”
(With inputs from agencies)
