For months, former President Donald J. Trump has been promoting Truth Social, the soon-to-be-released flagship app of his fledgling social media company, as a platform where free speech can thrive without the restrictions imposed by Big Tech.
At least seven other social media companies have pledged to do the same.
Gettr, a right-wing alternative to Twitter founded last year by a former adviser to Mr Trump, sees itself as a haven from censorship. That’s similar to Parler — essentially another Twitter clone backed by Rebekah Mercer, a major donor to the Republican Party. MeWe and CloutHub are similar to Facebook, but with the tone of promoting speech without restraint.
Truth Social was set to go live on Presidents’ Day, but the launch date has recently been pushed back to March, although a limited test version was recently unveiled. A full rollout could be hampered by a regulatory investigation into a proposed merger of its parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group, with a publicly traded blank check company.
If and when it opens its doors, Mr. Trump being the latest — and most notable — entrant to the tightly packed universe of social media companies that have sprung up in recent years, promising to build a parallel internet after Twitter, Facebook, Google and other mainstream platforms began cracking down on them. hate speech.
Millions of users have signed up for these so-called alt-tech or alternative platforms, drawn by the promise of a space not tied to what they consider to be censorship of conservative voices. However, the business case for these companies has already proved shaky.
“There’s an audience and a market, but it’s not huge,” said Shannon McGregor, a professor of journalism and media at the University of North Carolina who has studied social media platforms. “Most people don’t want a version of the Internet where anything is possible.”
Most alt-tech start-ups prey on the same group of users, many of whom spend only a fraction of their time on social media for politically partisan causes. Also, right-wing pundits who draw large audiences already have large, established online fan bases on mainstream social media, making it unlikely that they will switch to a new platform entirely unless wiped out.
And since most traditional Silicon Valley investors don’t rush to fund alt-tech, the growth of these companies depends on the small pool of financiers investing in partisan causes.
Rumble, which was founded in 2013 to compete with YouTube and is the oldest of these alternative social media companies, recently reported that its sales have nearly tripled in the past year. Still, revenue in the first nine months of 2021 was less than $7 million. By comparison, YouTube made nearly $9 billion in ad revenue in its most recent quarter.
Alternative platforms claim to have signed up to tens of millions of users. User numbers for most of these companies – or how they define users – are difficult to verify because they are not often independently tracked. But they’re unlikely to pose a serious competitive challenge to mainstream social media platforms, which have billions of users, experts say. For example, there are more than 1.9 billion daily active users on Facebook and 211 million daily active users on Twitter who see ads.
Many people who claim to crave a social network that advances their political cause are often not ready to leave Twitter or Facebook, said Weiai Xu, an assistant professor of communications at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. So the major platforms remain important vehicles for “partisan users” to get their messages out, Mr. Xu said.
Gettr, Parler and Rumble have relied on Twitter to announce the signing of a new right-wing personality or influencer. Parler, for example, used twitter to post a link to an announcement that Melania Trump, the former first lady, was making his platform her “social media home.”
Alternative social media companies thrive mainly on politics, says Mark Weinstein, the founder of MeWe, a platform with 20 million registered users that positions itself as an option for Facebook.
“The problem with Truth Social, Gettr and Parler is that these are Twitter competitors and they are echo chambers for a narrow political spectrum,” said Mr. weinstein. “Echo chambers don’t have broad appeal.”
Rather than chasing users for their political beliefs, MeWe is targeting people who want to protect the privacy of their online messages, Mr. Weinstein said. The basic MeWe offer is free, but certain subscription services are charged. His start-up has raised $24 million from 100 investors.
But as political causes drive most engagement in alternative social media, most other platforms are quick to embrace such opportunities. This month, CloutHub, which has just four million registered users, said its platform could be used to raise money for Ottawa’s protesting truck drivers.
mr. Trump was not far behind. “Facebook and Big Tech are trying to destroy the Truckers’ Freedom Convoy,” he said in a statement. (Meta, Facebook’s parent company, said it has removed several groups associated with the convoy for violating their rules.)
Trump Media, Mr Trump added, would let the truck drivers “communicate freely on Truth Social when we launch — available very soon!”
Of all the alt-tech sites, Mr. Trump’s venture may have the best chance of success when it launches, not only because of the former president’s star power, but also because of its financial weight. In September, Trump Media agreed to merge with Digital World Acquisition, a blank check or special purpose acquisition company that raised $300 million. The two entities have raised $1 billion from 36 investors in a private placement.
But none of that money can be tapped until regulators finalize their investigations into whether Digital World violated securities regulations in planning its merger with Trump Media. In the meantime, Trump Media, currently valued at over $10 billion based on Digital World’s stock price, is trying to hire people to build its platform.
According to documents seen by The Times, it has attracted recruiters to reach out to former Parler employees. In screening questions, the recruiters sought to learn more about “social media offerings as alternatives to Facebook/Twitter, such as Parler and Gab,” and asked candidates if they thought Truth Social would face challenges to monetize or create content on its own. to moderate the platform.
Devin Nunes, the former California Republican congressman who had chosen Mr. Trump to serve as chief executive of his company, turned down requests for an interview.
Toronto’s YouTube rival Rumble has raised relatively large amounts of money from investors including Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist and Trump supporter, and the venture capital fund of Mr. Thiel’s protégé JD Vance, who is running for a Senate seat from Ohio.
Rumble also plans to go public through a merger with a special acquisition company. SPACs are shell companies formed solely for the purpose of merging with an operating entity. The deal, arranged by Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, will net Rumble $400 million in cash and a valuation of $2.1 billion.
The site said in January it had 39 million monthly active users, up from two million two years ago. It has signed several content deals, including one to provide video and streaming services to Truth Social. Rumble representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
At least one other social media start-up hopes to boost the former president’s popularity among conservatives to build his business. Gettr, which began July 4 and is led by Jason Miller, the former Trump adviser, had hoped to land Mr. Trump before deciding to open his own venture. In January, Gettr advertised it as the “place to watch” of Mr Trump’s recent rallies.
In a written statement, Mr. Miller said the former president was welcome “to join GETTR when he’s ready.” The site claims to have five million users and a pile of tens of millions of dollars of cash. In a recent interview, Mr. Miller denied a previous claim that Gettr had raised $75 million.
Parler, the platform popular with Trump supporters, is still reeling from its role after the violent January 2021 US Capitol protests by thousands of angry fans of Mr. Trump. According to Digital analytics company SensorTower, Parler’s app downloads dropped 88 percent last year after Apple and Google removed it from their app stores and Amazon shut down its web services.
Parler, who said in January it raised $20 million from investors, has since returned to the Apple Store. However, the internal turmoil continues. Last year, Parler fired John Matze, one of the founders, from his position as chief executive. Mr. Matze has said he was fired after a dispute with Ms. Mercer – the daughter of a wealthy hedge fund manager who is Parler’s main lender – over how to handle extreme content posted on the platform.
Christina Cravens, a spokeswoman for Parler, said the company had always banned “violent and incendiary content” and invested in “content moderation best practices.”
Moderating content will also be a challenge for Truth Social, whose main star, Mr. Trump, has been unable to post since early 2021, when Twitter and Facebook kicked him off their platforms for inciting violence over the outcome. of the 2020 presidential election.
With Mr. Trump as its main poster, it was unclear whether Truth Social would grow beyond subscribers who sign up just to read the former president’s letters, Mr. Matze said.
“Trump is building a community that will fight for something or whatever he stands for that day,” he said. “This is not social media for friends and family to share photos.”
