Oct 21 Reuters - Former U.S. President Donald Trump has announced his return to the digital world with the planned launch https: www.reuters.com. com world us former-us president-donald trump-launches - new-social media platform - 2021 - 10 - 21 through a new company formed by a merger of the Trump Media and Technology Group and a special purpose acquisition company SPAC according to a press release they issued on Wednesday.
The venture may provide the first real test of the power of right-wing social media with the full force of Trump's support. Questions remain about how it plans to make money and avoid the same issues that led Twitter Inc, Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc to ban or suspend him.
Here is an explanation of Trump's venture.
During his presidency, Trump railed against major news media organizations and called journalists the enemy of the people. It said a streaming service, TMTG promises news, big-tent entertainment, exciting documentaries, sports programming and more. The backers have not laid out a plan for pricing or revenue generation.
The TRUTH Social app is available for pre-order in the Apple App store, a sign that its backers plan to distribute it through conventional routes.
A SPAC https: www.reuters.com. com breakingviews trump-app - is-ultimate - art-spac - deal - 2021 - 10 - 21 is a shell company that raises money in an IPO to merge with a privately held company that then becomes publicly traded as a result. SPACs have emerged as a popular IPO alternative for companies, providing a path to going public with less regulatory scrutiny and more certainty over the valuation that will be attained.
Shareholders of the SPAC, Digital World Acquisition Corp will be asked whether they want to redeem their shares for their IPO value when the merger is poised to be completed. If they do, they will be reducing the $293 million in cash that the SPAC will have available to give to Trump's company.
Trump attracted a large social media following before being permanently banned from Twitter and suspended by Facebook and YouTube. His Twitter handle had 88.7 million followers. Since leaving office in January, Trump has struggled to gain traction online. He pulled the plug on his blog - entitled From the Desk of Donald J. Trump - after 29 days.
Other conservative online ventures have failed to attract huge audiences.
com world us former-Trump-aide-miller launches-social media-site - gettr - 2021 - 07 - 01 by Trump's former spokesperson and senior adviser Jason Miller, has hit about 2.2 million installs globally across the App Store and Google Play, according to Sensor Tower.
The social media and streaming platforms, news outlets and web hosting services that TMTG seeks to challenge are well-established and well-funded.
TMTG may struggle to find a web host if it becomes a source of violent rhetoric. Parler, the app backed by prominent Republican Party donor Rebekah Mercer, went dark for about a month after Amazon.com Inc suspended web hosting services for it after the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot by Trump supporters. Parler has also been removed from Google's app store. Since Parler returned online - to the App store and not Google's marketplace - it has drawn a little over 100,000 installs, according to Sensor Tower.
What type of speech will TMTG prohibit?
It will not allow for making fun of Trump or his people. According to its terms of service, as a user of the site, one agrees not to harm, in our opinion, us and the Site.