Trump’s former spokesperson Jason Miller has launched the latest MAGA social media platform: GETTR. Yes, the name is that silly. According to Politico, the platform’s mission statement says that GETTR is “fighting cancel culture, promoting common sense, defending free speech, challenging social media monopolies, and creating a true marketplace of ideas.” What’s great is that someone familiar with the platform told Politico that it is … similar to Twitter.
So why make GETTR? Probably because Donald Trump himself doesn’t have access to most social media platforms! He’s even been banned from making playlists on Spotify (since there’s the option to customize your titles and make them public). So of course he’s trying to make his own version of Twitter, which is sort of what Parler was until they ran into trouble with Google, Apple, Amazon, and more in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot.
Politico went on to talk about the right’s ecosystem of social media platforms and tech helping to give Trump an online presence after almost every other platform gave him the boot.
GETTR is one of the highest-profile projects in a larger ecosystem of pro-MAGA tech and social media platforms that have blossomed on the right, largely fueled by a sense that Big Tech is attempting to silence conservative and pro-Trump ideology from being disseminated online. In recent months, it was widely reported that the Trump team was searching for a platform on which to re-establish his online presence, either by buying a company outright and rebranding it as his exclusive platform, or becoming a featured draw.
The description for the app in the app store says that it is “a viewpoint-neutral social media dedicated to freedom of expression,” meaning that it’s an app that won’t ban you for being racist, I’m assuming?
Politico also pointed out that the app already had some trending topics within its first few weeks after launching:
Initial trending topics on the app included the hashtags “#trump,” “#virusorigin,” “#nra” and “#unrestrictedbioweapon.” Those tags refer to the newfound and still unproven refrain from Republicans that China created the Covid-19 virus in a lab as a bioweapon.
Now that I’ve done the “professional” part of this and explained the platform, let me just say: When will we be free of this nonsense? Every single time I think, “Wow, good, haven’t heard anything about Trump in a week,” he suddenly pops back up again. I’m exhausted. He was a fascist who incited a riot on American soil and had his supporters attack the Capitol in an effort to unilaterally overturn an election to cling to power. And still, he is trying to gain traction to probably run again because our government did nothing to stop him.
We’re in an endless cycle of Trump, and I truly want off this ride. Someone let me out. I’m tired. Don’t get GETTR, not even for the lawlz. Let it die, just like Trump’s sad Twitter-copycat blog, so then they’re back at square one. Please, I’m begging you.
(image: Joe Raedle/Getty)
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Published: Jul 1, 2021 04:14 pm