Trump's Twitter Rip-Off
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is well-known for his tumultuous relationship with the media. This is especially true for the social media app Twitter, which he was permanently suspended from due to a risk of further incitement of violence. Throughout his administration, he continuously criticized journalists and news companies for allegedly spreading fake news, going as far as to call them the enemy of the people if they disagreed with him.
In true demagogue style, he released his own app "Truth Social" to compete with Twitter. Unfortunately for him, the app's release has been a bust. Users have been unable to...well, become users. Hundreds of thousands of people attempting to sign up were met with a waitlist and told that the app would be functional by late March. Some have questioned whether this blunder implicates more failure in the app's future. Congressman Ted Lieu tweeted, "Many people say that if #TruthSocial can’t even handle opening new accounts, how will it keep your account from being hacked? Also, the problems won’t be fixed until late March. So is their staff like 2 people, the failed Devin Nunes and his cousin’s friend who is the coder?".
Once the app starts to work, it's interesting to consider how this could impact politics. On one hand, the most likely one, it could very well become an echo chamber for the far-right, reiterating the same rhetoric from Fox News and One America News Network. However - could this be a good thing? What better way to stop fake news from spreading on normal media sites than create one just for them? I'm interested in seeing how it plays out and hearing your thoughts.
Oooh, I'm also very interested in how this will play out. I wonder if it would be like the social media platform that was popular among the right last year (I think it was called "Parler" or something like that) and if it would get shut down by the various app stores. and how exactly the policy guidelines etc will be. Kind of funny how he got banned from all social media and then starts his own social media, for it to just not work, and essentially go right back into screaming into the void.
ReplyDeleteI heard about this the other day and was very interested in seeing how it would work out. It's already not in a good place considering how disastrous the launch was so I wonder how much longer the platform will stay active. I saw that in the terms and conditions for the app, they prohibit their users from tainting the platform's image so its already going against its "freedom of speech" campaign. These next couple of months will definitely be interesting for this new social media platform.
ReplyDeleteI am honestly surprised to see Trump try to come back to social media. I often hear the argument that social media apps should not be able to ban members from the platforms, however I could not disagree more. The previous actions and statements from Trump have shown his intentions in society are not to encourage equality and peace. Trump said so many things during his presidency that should never said that he has earned social media silence for the rest of his life. I do think that freedom of speech is important however, when one is a detriment to society leaders should intervene. I am not surprised Trump's app was a bust, nothing he touches flourishes rather the opposite.
ReplyDeleteI heard about his app. I think it is laughable for him to assume his app could overtake a platform as large as Twitter. He was removed for inciting violence which is not a protected part of free speech. He broke the rules Twitter has set forth and he had to face the consequences. Nothing he has done on Twitter has had a positive impact on society. I would not like to see the information that is put out on his new app.
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