Former US President Donald Trump has announced plans to launch a new social media network, called TRUTH Social.
He said the platform would “stand up to the tyranny of big tech”, accusing them of silencing opposing voices in the US.
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which he chairs, also intends to launch a subscription video-on-demand service.
Mr Trump was banned or suspended from social networks like Twitter and Facebook after crowds of his supporters stormed the US Capitol in January.
He and his advisers have since hinted that they were planning to create a rival social media site.
Earlier this year, he launched From the Desk of Donald J Trump, which was often referred to as a blog.
The website was permanently shut down less than a month after it launched. His senior aide Jason Miller said it was “just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on”.
An early version of his latest venture, TRUTH Social, will be open to invited guests next month, and will have a “nationwide rollout” within the first three months of 2022, according to a statement by TMTG.
“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favourite American President has been silenced,” wrote Mr Trump.
“Everyone asks me why doesn’t someone stand up to Big Tech? Well, we will be soon!” he added.
Donald Trump’s team is making a big deal of this. Yet there’s no indication that the new company has a working platform yet. The new site is just a registration page.
He wants to create a platform that rivals Twitter or Facebook, but that simply won’t happen.
By its very nature the platform is overtly politicised. It is not going to be a talking shop of ideas like Twitter, or a place the whole family is on like Facebook.
What it could be is a more successful version of other ‘free speech’ social media platforms like Parler or Gab.
Donald Trump clearly wants his megaphone back. He thinks this might be his ticket. But if he’s really going to be heard, he needs the Big Tech platforms to let him back on – and that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
TMTG said its video-on-demand service would “feature ‘non-woke’ entertainment programming, news, podcasts, and more”.
The firm said it intends to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company (Spac) listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Spacs are set up with the purpose of buying a private firm to merge with and then take public on the stock market.
Spacs, also called “blank cheque companies”, have seen a surge of popularity in recent years, and are seen as a faster route to taking a company public with less scrutiny.
Mr Trump’s announcement comes months after his former aide Jason Miller launched another social media company called GETTR.
