After four years of agony, most Americans thought they wouldn’t hear the name “Trump” again. Almost a year after the 2020 election, Donald Trump announced his new social media platform. TRUTH Social, an ironic name for the former president’s site, claims to “stand up to the tyranny of big tech,” which stands for any opinion besides the far-right.
“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 the announcement press release.
Trump was banned from social media for a reason. While the First Amendment does guarantee the freedom of speech, insisting domestic terrorism gives him the right to lose those privileges.
Following the United States Capitol riots in early January, Trump was banned from Twitter and suspended from Facebook for inciting the attacks. The new social media platform will debut in the first few months of 2022. As for now, the media venture violates licensing requirements.
Mastodon is a free, open-source software that can be used to run a homemade social networking site. Trump’s TRUTH Social was created using the website’s software. The creators have 30 days to make its source code public, which has not been done. If they do not comply with Mastodon’s licensing agreement, the whole project will be shut down.
Eugen Rochko, Mastodon’s founder, issued a blog post Oct. 29 to warn Trump and his staff that their time to “stand up to big tech,” may be coming to a close.
“On Oct 26, we sent a formal letter to Truth Social’s chief legal officer, requesting the source code to be made publicly available in compliance with the license,” Rochko wrote. “According to AGPLv3, after being notified by the copyright holder, Truth Social has 30 days to comply or the license may be permanently revoked.”
Hopefully, TRUTH Social will never reach the app store. Trump and his cult-like followers have scary ideals that turn the love for America into hate. Their actions tear the country apart and divide the already divided nation.
Keep Trump off social media, even the sites he creates.
