Tale of Trump’s New Twitter: TRUTH Social
Ever since Twitter announced Parag Agarwal as its new CEO, the platform has come back to the limelight. However, it was President Donald Trump who kept Twitter abuzz during his presidency. It was his blunt, and often uncensored words that used to land him amidst the controversy. Moreover, his notorious moves of “literally changing policies via Twitter” is had everyone constantly on their toes. However, all didn’t go well for the former President, as his twitter account was banned following the charges of him inciting violence that hit the capitol building. Ever since then twitter frenzy missed on the controversial remarks that the former President used to throw like confetti. Albeit, there’s no way a single ban can control the “freedom of speech and expression” that Trump has been wanting to express. The entire episode of being banned from the most popular and user friendly platform used across the world by some of the most influential people on the planet, compelled President Trump to go a step further and announce his own version of Twitter. This single announcement by President Trump brought him back to the epi center of controversy.
President Trump named is platform “TRUTH Social”, and said “I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to stand up to 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”. Moreover, he has been marketing his platform as a worthy opponent to the already established social media channels. He remarked that the he wants to make “a rival to the liberal media consortium and fight back against the Big Tech companies.” As per Trump’s statement, this application will be launched in collaboration between the Trump Media and Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Corp.
This new venture that President Trump is undertaking is both a political and economic asset. Donald Trump is seeking to raise up to $1billion at a valuation of nearly $3billion. Being a polished business man that President Trump is, he is monetizing the euphoria that this venture has created. Moreover, on the political front, he is trying to bridge the gap between himself and his supporters that was created due to his sudden absence. This direct access will help him rebuild his campaign, and plan of running for President in 2024.
TRUTH Social is the first of three stages in the Trump Media plan, with a subscription video-on-demand service called TMTG+ that will encompass entertainment, news, and podcasts expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2022. This platform has a lot of stakes from every possible aspect invested in it. As earlier, Trump’s congressional allies reacted angrily to President’s high-profile banishment from major social media platforms. According to them, "Big Tech" was censoring President Trump and his supporters at a state-like level. This sparked calls to remove Section 230, which protects web intermediaries making content moderation decisions under the law. Section 230 is a tool for censorship and biased content filtering judgments for the populist right. President Trump's new platform gives him the chance to show that Section 230 has been misunderstood and that it genuinely promotes free expression and First Amendment rights. Therefore, the debate doesn’t only involve the stakes for a new campaign, or economic gains, it runs deep and touches aspects of rights.
While President Trump's new social media site's declared objective is to "provide a voice to everybody," some have pointed out that TRUTH Social's terms of service do not necessarily match those principles. President Trump's social media platform, for example, expressly prohibits the overuse of capital letters, something he is known for in his own social media posts and online fundraising drives. The platform also claims to have complete control over whether or not to prohibit, refuse, or restrict access to their site. Although, this does not imply that President Trump is going back on his promise to promote free expression online. Private businesses, including those that sponsor online expression, have the legal authority to make these decisions. The First Amendment safeguards both right to speak and right to remain silent. The Supreme Court acknowledged this privilege in ‘Miami v. Tornillo’, ruling that the government cannot compel a private firm to carry speech. The decision not to speak, or in this case, not to host speech on your privately owned platform, is legally protected in the same way that the right to speak is.
Nonetheless, when it comes to content filtering, Section 230, and not the First Amendment, has been the hot debate. Some senators feel Section 230's safeguards provide "Big Tech" with a "get out of jail free" card, allowing them to avoid accountability. As a result, a plethora of hearings and bills have been introduced to repeal or drastically reduce Section 230. The general consensus in Congress has been that web companies are not doing a good enough job of making content filtering judgments. President Trump's new social media site will hopefully provide insight into why Section 230 is so vital to politicians concerned about "censorship." While private businesses retain their First Amendment rights, they are not immune to frivolous litigation. A six-figure sum could be spent on discovery in a lawsuit, which is a significant sum for a cash-strapped firm. Hackers and pranksters have already hacked the TRUTH site and posted filthy photographs, but owing to Section 230 liability protections, President Trump's platform may remove the offensive information without risking costly litigation.
Section 230 fosters the free speech that President Trump is attempting to replicate on his platform by safeguarding companies from an infinite stream of meritless lawsuits for user-generated content. These safeguards are necessary for new businesses, such as TRUTH Social, to get off the ground and compete online. Diverse techniques to content moderation contribute to a more robust online environment and provide customers with more choices. President Trump's own experience with Section 230 protection might convince lawmakers of the importance of this legal safeguard in supporting free speech online.
The rest can only be taken into account once the platform becomes operational in full swing, and how things unfold for President Trump thereupon. Till then, it can be considered a sound economic venture with a heavy political color to it.
REFERENCES
1. Trump SPAC Digital World Acquisition drops 11% after huge gains on social media merger news. CNBC, October 2021.
Trump SPAC DWAC drops in price after big gains on social media news (cnbc.com)
2. Donald Trump’s ‘social media platform’ has launched and it’s just a blog. The Verge, May 2021.
Donald Trump’s ‘social media platform’ has launched and it’s just a blog - The Verge
3. Former US president Donald Trump's social media company gets agreements for $1 billion in capital. WION, December 2021.
Former US president Donald Trump's social media company gets agreements for $1 billion in capital (msn.com)
4. Donald Trump’s social media venture seeks to raise $1 billion. The Economic Times, December 2021.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/donald-trumps-social-media-venture-seeks-to-raise-1-billion/articleshow/88042365.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
5. Trump media venture eyed by regulators; names Nunes CEO. Bakersfield.com, December 2021.
Trump media venture eyed by regulators; names Nunes CEO | News | bakersfield.com
6. Trump social-media venture under scrutiny by US regulators, AccessWDUN, December 2021.
Trump social-media venture under scrutiny by US regulat... | AccessWDUN.com
Pic Courtesy-Hillary Black at unsplash.com
(The views expressed are those of the author and do not represent views of CESCUBE.)
