TRUTH in the Time of Trump

Hey there! Have you heard about TRUTH Social yet? You haven’t? Well, let me catch you up, then. Featuring “entertainment programming, news, podcasts, and more,” TRUTH Social is the newest form of social media on the block. Launching early next year, this site promises to be informative, entertaining, and completely “non-woke”. Oh, and if you haven’t guessed from that last description, it’s founded by the ex-President of the USA, Donald Trump himself.

Now, I imagine there is a series of questions running through your head, from “wait, what was that?” to “why do all her introductions sound so similar?”, but I will begin by answering this one – why on Earth is Donald Trump founding a social media app?

The twisted tale begins on January 6th, 2021, when thousands of Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol Complex in Washington, DC. Incited by the then-President’s numerous allegations of voter fraud, posts attacking the Democratic Party, and even a tweet stating “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!,” this mob successfully disrupted the joint session of Congress assembled to count the votes that would confirm the victory of the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Joe Biden. The demonstrations forced Congress to go into lockdown, severely damaged government property, and injured 138 police officers.

The next morning, Trump was blocked indefinitely from posting on both his Facebook and Instagram accounts. A day later, Twitter went one step further by permanently suspending his account on this platform “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”. He then communicated with the public in the form of press statements, until May 4, when From the Desk of Donald Trump came into being. This blog acted as Trump’s substitute platform for less than a month, after which, unfortunately for the heterosexual white men of America, it was shut down due to low readership.

If there’s one thing Trump doesn’t hate, though, it’s the chance to share his opinions on everything under the sun. Therefore, he was not to be thwarted. On October 20th of this year, the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) issued a press release about Truth Social, Trump’s forthcoming social media app intended to “stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech.”

Now, what do we know about the features and functions of the app itself?

Well, first of all, TRUTH Social claims to be a haven of free speech, open to refugees of cancel culture from across the Internet. However, its terms of service immediately negate this by stating that users may not “disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site.” Furthermore, the app reserves “the right to take appropriate legal action, including without limitation pursuing civil, criminal, and injunctive redress,” against your activity on it. Simply put, anyone who utilises Trump’s platform to criticise him will not only have their profile terminated, but may also be sued. This means that the only people who can really share their “truths” on TRUTH Social are diehard Trump supporters. Sounds more like a haven of hate speech than free speech to me!

A rather ridiculous clause in the app’s terms prohibits the “excessive use of capital letters”. Well, as one of those pedantic people who cringe upon reading “you’re” instead of “your” in an email, this rule doesn’t bother me in the slightest, but you know whom it might trouble? Donald Trump himself! How on Earth will he restrain himself from hollering thunderously through text? Isn’t his caps lock key permanently jammed by now?

Another unintentionally comedic aspect of this app is that its posts are called “truths”. This should mean that every one of them is logical, fact-based, and truthful, right? Wrong. The terms of service make it clear that TMTG is not responsible for the “content, accuracy, offensiveness, opinions, reliability, privacy practices, or other policies” of any third-party content posted on its site. Essentially, naming posts on this platform “truths” is a flat-out lie.

While TRUTH Social may seem harmless, if nonsensical and absurd, could it have serious negative impacts?

If you ask me, yes. A social media platform on which users can post anything, be it true or false, helpful or harmful, as long as it conforms to a single ideology, naturally lends itself to becoming an echo chamber. An echo chamber, in case you haven’t heard the turn of phrase, is a situation in which beliefs are amplified by repetition inside a closed system insulated from rebuttal. In today’s polarised world, echo chambers only further radicalise people, especially influenceable youth.

A teenager with right-wing views could quite plausibly discover TRUTH Social and decide to give it a try. Over the next few weeks, their ideology is not only confirmed by selective “truths” from older, cleverer, and more convincing conservatives, but intensified to the point of fanaticism without any liberals left on the site to refute them.

While this is a legitimate concern, I’ve got to be honest: I can’t wait to start using this app and see firsthand just how far Trump’s clownery goes. 2022, here comes TRUTH Social!