After the 6th of January 2021 coup attempt, Trump’s social media accounts have been deleted, since he used it to spread his truth on elections’ fraud and other conspiracy theories. Thus, he is planning to launch a new social media platform on the 21st of February 2022, if it is not delayed once again. The question is if this new social media can last in the time, be a competitive rival to other main social medias such as Facebook, Twitter or Youtube, and what impacts could it have on the american society.
Truth social: a robust rival to the main social media?
Following his ban from the main social medias (Twitter, Facebook and Youtube), Trump is looking to put down the tyranny of big tech. Thus, first he launched a blog called ‘From the Desk of Donald J Trump’, which shut down less than a month later due to a poor audience. This hard set-back for someone, who priviledges social medias as means of communications, may raise some doubt on the potential attractivity of a parallel social media. Truth social is expected to sign up about sixty-five millions users, which is five time less than Twitter’s users (three hundreds and thirty millions). Moreover, Truth social aiming at gathering all Trump’s supporters and right wing electors, it will be too political to be considered as a rival to Twitter or Facebook. However, it could be a successful version of a free speech social media platforms such as Parler or Gab. Indeed, they benefited from followers gain after high profiles conservatives, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have been kicked off the main social media platform. Nevertheless, even if those ban are justified by the social media’s policies, by banning those accounts because of their content, it can have a powerful impact on their capacity to gain attention or political influence. It would be, then, the exact opposite of the aim pursued by the social media when they ban accounts, to offer a safe virtual environment to express one’s opinion, while guaranteeing the integrity of the content.
Besides, this threat of polarization, encouraging extreme views and limiting apolitical content, will prevent Truth social to become a robust social media. In order to be so, it requires a multiplicity of perspectives to bring different conversations with different kinds of people.
Furthermore, by adding a new social media targeting right wing electors, it will divide the saturated market further, which could also be a risk for Truth social, since all supporters of Trump are not following him when he is changing of platform, he went from two point seven million followers on Youtube to one million on Rumble. Despite his strong personality, all his wims and extremism will cost him followers.
Despite the fact that Trump has been kicked out from the main social medias due to the content of his publications and his wish to put down their tyranny, he is setting a content moderation for posts but nothing linked to political censorship or minsinformation, since he is working on more objective problems such as sexually explicit content, violence, hate speech etc.
Therefore, Truth social cannot be called a rival to the main social media platforms, even if since a date has been released for its launch Twitter saw its actions drop. Mainly, it will bring competiton among right wing-based social media such as Parler, Rumble or Gab. On top of economic considerations, the main issue remains the essence of such social medias, which represents a danger to the american society impeding a honest self-reflection and an open dialogue, vital for a healthy democratic society.
Trump: a threat to the American democracy?
Strategically, Trump is launching his social media platform at a time, which will enable him to influence on the mid-term elections (November 2022). The great danger is that Trump will find again a support to vehicle his conspiracy theories on the alleged fraud of the last presidential election. Still eighty percents of the republicans believe that Biden did not win legitmately the 2020’s elections. Right before the elections, Trump will be enable to spread his fiction, pass for a victim and give him the opportunity for revenge. By deforming the reality and telling so many lies, he is doing what Hitler did with his book Mein Kampf, blaming the jews for everything which went wrong at the time in Germany. The bigger the lies are, more people will believe in it. It is preoccupating that his lies are already embedded in the public opinion, in fact thirty six percents of Americans believe that Biden should not have won the elections, it does not concern only his partisans but also Americans who originally did not follow his ideas. Moreover, his big lies can be also found in law books, since many republican led-states have restricted voting (ballot access). Trump is a threat for the american society in a soft way by proliferating lies, but also in a hard way, since he prouved his willingness to use violence to achieve his end goals.
Thanks to the remaining democratic mechanism, in order for Trump to return to a political campaign he needs the support from his party. However, some senior members are reluctant to offer their support and some clearly draw a clear line between them and Trump.
In order to protect the american society from fictions, the US congress shall amend the section two hundred and thirty of the communication decency act, which for the moment protects online companies from being used for third party content posted on their sites. It would be a step further towards healthy communication and expression. It will be time for the US representants to take action in order to avoid in 2024 a new catastrophe.
Bibliography
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Fox Business ‘Trump „Truth social developing content moderation pratices to ensure „family-friendly” community’ <https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trump-truth-social-developing-content-moderation-practices-to-ensure-family-friendly-community> accessed on the 25th of January 2022
France Inter ‘Afghanistan: les talibans interdits de Facebook, mais Twitter leur donne encore la parole” <https://www.franceinter.fr/monde/afghanistan-les-talibans-interdits-de-facebook-mais-twitter-leur-donne-encore-la-parole> accessed on the 26th of January 2022
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Newsweek ‘Trump Movemen poses „existential threat” to America: New York Times Editorial Board’ <https://www.newsweek.com/trump-movement-poses-existential-threat-america-new-york-times-editorial-board-1664823> accessed on the 26th of January 2022
Newsweek ‘Twitter Stock Price Struggles As Donald Trump’s Truth Social Launch Nears’ <https://www.newsweek.com/twitter-stock-price-struggles-donald-trump-truth-social-launch-nears-1671590> accessed on the 25th of January 2022
NPR ‘The clear and present danger of Trump’s enduring „Big Lie”’ <https://www.npr.org/2021/12/23/1065277246/trump-big-lie-jan-6-election?t=1643192430233> accessed on the 26th of January 2022
Roll Call ‘Rise of right-wing apps seen worsening midterm disinformation’ <https://rollcall.com/2022/01/18/rise-of-right-wing-apps-seen-worsening-midterm-disinformation/> accessed on the 25th of January 2022
The Washington Post ‘Pro-Trump influencers flocked to alternative social networks. Their follower counts stalled soon after’ <https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/20/trump-audience-stalling/> accessed on the 25th of January 2022
By The European Institute for International Law and International Relations.
