It’s unclear what—other than raw, callow revenge for his perma-ban—motivated Donald Trump to launch a Twitter ripoff called Truth Social. After all, this is Trump we’re talking about—and the people using the platform are presumably Trump supporters. He might as well open a raw vegan tapas restaurant in Branson, Missouri. Or a high-end hair salon called Fantastic Yam’s.
Trump promised his hordes of truth-tellers, ahead of launching Truth Social, and handpicking an anti-fake-cow crusader to run it, that he would never censor patriotic Americans’ posts like those nasty, tricksy hobbitses over at Twitter. Well, Truth Social launched more than five months ago. Did Donald John Trump keep his promise?
(Pause here for undulating cascades of laughter.)
A new Public Citizen report by Cheyenne Hunt-Majer takes an in-depth look at what many Truth Social users have reported anecdotally: The platform is more of a censorship sphere than a free speech zone.
From the report:
Our own research on the platform confirms that the site engages in shadow banning, which is fully or partially blocking users’ content without warning, notice, or recourse. This is prevalent with regard to both progressive subject matter and across various other topics. Truth Social does not disclose in their terms of service that users may be subject to these shadow bans, nor do they provide information on how they decide which content to block in this fashion. Overall, we found that Truth Social censors more content than they suggest, both progressive topics and seemingly conservative content are subject to shadow bans, and their content moderation practices lack the transparency, consistency, and nuance expected of a major social media platform.
Wait, “shadow banning?” Where have I heard that term before? Oh, yeah, Coke-Cloud Pig-Pen was whining about it not that long ago.
Hey, Junior? Maybe talk to your dad about this. Or is it only a problem when lurid election lies get stomped into the dirt?
Hunt-Majer’s report particularly focuses on “Truths” (the platform’s ridiculous name for users’ posts) that address abortion rights and the Jan. 6 hearings. With respect to abortion, she discovered that censorship ran rampant on the platform:
In June 2022, Truth Social users reported that any post containing the phrase “abortion is healthcare” would automatically be shadow banned from the platform. Much of this report describes my firsthand experience on Truth Social. When I attempted to post the phrase “abortion is healthcare,” I received the standard notification that my “truth had been posted,” which would usually signify that my post would now be visible on my personal profile and on my feed. Instead, the post was nowhere to be found. I made a video explaining that my “truth” had seemingly disappeared into a black hole that went viral on Tik Tok with over 1.2 million views to date. Five days after I initially tried to post my “truth”, after my Tik Tok video attracted such significant attention, it suddenly appeared.
Of course, Trump has likely had decades of experience blocking talk of abortions, but what about his glorious almost-return-to-power on Jan. 6, 2021?
A number of Truth Social users reported having their accounts permanently suspended after posting about the January 6th Committee hearings. Other users have alleged that their posts were censored or their accounts were deactivated after sharing a video from the January 6th hearings of Ivanka Trump doubting her father’s claims that the election was stolen. The fourth hearing of the January 6th Committee featured the testimony of Georgia election worker Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, who was a target of a conspiracy theory spread by former President Donald Trump. In the wake of that hearing, I attempted to post, “Trump’s defamatory lies about Shaye Moss and her mother were cruel, racist, and dangerous. Time for accountability. #Jan6 #january6th #January6thHearings.” That post was blocked. However, when I copied and pasted the exact text and attempted to post it for a second time, the post became visible. To date, the original post has not appeared on my page.
The report also notes that Truth Social’s terms of service are actually the most restrictive in the industry (yes, even more restrictive than those of their bête noire Twitter), and its moderation practices are inconsistent and “opaque.” That lack of transparency, Hunt-Majer writes, “could lead users to believe that they are engaging in an open forum when, in reality, they’re in a curated echo chamber.”
But did anyone really believe that Donald Trump, who accepts only those few facts that present him in a favorable light, would ever create a truly free “free speech” zone? Or a platform that gives anything more than lip-service to the truth? After all, Trump and truth are like coconut oil and water: One is essential to the elemental functions of modern society, and the other shows up in a lot of Nazi-themed porn.
Speaking of porn, The Daily Beast’s Zachary Petrizzo reported in July that Truth Social’s censors seem to be flagging a lot of content, even—gasp!—content that bashes the current president or praises Jesus. The result? Like sexual or violent content on other platforms, the visuals are marked “sensitive.”
The main point of contention among users is that Trump’s site continues to apply “sensitive content” notices obscuring some posts, including a popular anti-Biden meme that mocks the president over increasing inflation rates.
“This content may not be suitable for all audiences,” the notice states.
That content warning has also covered up a popular graphic depicting Jesus Christ and a quote from the Bible with a gray filter, leaving users fuming.
“Truth Social loves censorship,” one user wrote, whose bio on the site included the hashtag “NoMoreRINOs.”
Another pro-Trump user, “Ultra MAGA Peanut,” responded on the platform that Truth Social “should be embarrassed over this censorship.”
Unfortunately for Trump, social media is more of a black light than a spotlight, and there’s no hiding his serial grotesqueries. Not if he wants anyone outside the ever-shrinking MAGA bubble to use his pathetically anemic Twitter knockoff, that is.
Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.