Former President Donald Trump launched a new "communications platform" on Tuesday called 'From the Desk of Donald J. Trump' where he can post messages and statements that can be shared by his supporters on Twitter and Facebook. The move comes just a day before a Facebook's oversight board takes a decision on whether to uphold Trump's indefinite suspension from the platform.
The new website gets launched more than four months after Facebook, Twitter and a slew of other social media companies banned Trump for spreading misinformation about the 2020 US Presidential Election that helped trigger the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.
Trump Returns
On Tuesday, Trump launched the website wherein there is a particular section that only allows him to upload content, and doesn't let users interact. The former President, however, teased to his supporters that they will be "very, very happy" when they get to know about his decision about running for the White House again.
The webpage is referred to as a "beacon of freedom" in a time of "lies and silence" in a 30-second promotional video, which shows imagery of Mar-a-Lago, where Trump has been living since leaving the White House. However, this is not the social media platform that Trump has pledged to create. His supporters and fans can not to interact or respond to the Trump messages that are posted on the new website.
Trump's senior adviser, Jason Miller, said in a tweet Trump has plans to launch the social media platform soon. "We'll have additional information coming on that front in the very near future," Miller tweeted.
How it Works
On the new webpage, titled www.DonaldJTrump.com/desk, Trump will be posting his messages and statements. His fans can view his posts and can then repost them on Facebook and Twitter. Trump has so long been emailing to reporters to their Facebook and Twitter feeds since he was suspended from multiple social media platforms.
The website, which includes written statements from the former President that he has issued since leaving office on January 20, also includes a camera feature that Trump can use to make video statements. Users will be able to like those posts and also share them on Twitter and Facebook accounts but can no way interact with Trump since it's not a typical social media platform.
The website is reportedly built by Campaign Nucleus, the digital services company created by Mr Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale. When users sign up for alerts, they are directed to a page asking for campaign donations. As of Tuesday night he had only posted the video and a collection of his recent statements.
Several posts on the site as of now repeat debunked claims that last year's presidential election was rigged. A Twitter spokesman said sharing content from the website would be permitted as long as the material did not violate Twitter's rules. However, any attempt to circumvent a suspension would not be permitted, for example, imitating a suspended account to try to replace it.
On Tuesday, the Republican National Committee also put out a fundraising plea asking Trump's supporters to pick a city where he will hold his first spring rally. "If you didn't already hear, President Trump said he may be reuniting with the American People to hold his first rally in MONTHS," the RNC's email read. "This will be a gathering of Patriots unlike anything we've ever seen. The only question is, where should President Trump hold this HISTORIC event?" it further read.
Once Trump's supporters write their choice, they will be asked to donate between $45 and $2,900 to the RNC. A box is automatically checked to make the donations monthly.
That said, it now needs to be seen, if Facebook lifts its ban on Trump. If he is allowed back on to the site, Facebook will have seven days to reactivate his account. YouTube on the other hand has said that they will reactivate Trump's account when the threat of "real-world violence" reduces.
