Trump Creates New Social Media Platform 'Truth Social,' Claims It Will 'Stand Up To Big Tech'

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the launch of his new social media app “Truth Social.” The move comes months after Trump was banned from various social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

The Trump Media and Technology Group announced in a press release that it had entered a merger agreement with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWACU) with the goal of going public.

The TMTG has an initial value of $875 million, with a potential earnout of $825 million in additional shares, for a total value of $1.7 billion. Digital World Acquisition Corp. invested $293 million into Trump’s media platform.

The beta launch is expected in November with more users being allowed access in 2022. Trump says his platform will form "a rival to the liberal media consortium" that helped springboard him to the White House in 2016.

“We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced. This is unacceptable,” Trump said in a statement.

“I'm excited to soon begin sharing my thoughts on TRUTH Social and to fight back against Big Tech. Everyone asks me why doesn’t someone stand up to Big Tech? Well, we will be soon!” Trump added.

Truth Social claims it will be a place that "encourages an open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating against political ideology." However, its terms of service forbid users from using the platform who disparage, tarnish, or otherwise harm, in our opinion, us and/or the Site."

The company is also planning to launch a video-on-demand service dubbed the TMTG+ that will feature entertainment, news, and podcasts. Interested users will be able to sign up under truthsocial.com. Truth Social is now available for pre-order on the Apple App Store.

Trump’s announcement comes months after his longtime aide Jason Miller launched a social media platform called GETTR in July.

"Digital World was formed to create public shareholder value and we believe that TMTG is one of the most promising business combination partners to fulfill that purpose," Patrick Orlando, the company's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

“Given the total addressable market and President Trump’s large following, we believe the TMTG opportunity has the potential to create significant shareholder value."