Washington (AFP)

The former president wants to "resist the tyranny of the giants of technology", who "used their unilateral power to silence dissenting voices in America," he said in a statement.

The platform will be owned by the newly formed Trump Media & Technology (TMTG), a structure that will also provide video-on-demand service and "non-woke" podcasts, the statement said.

"We live in a world where the Taliban have a huge presence on Twitter while your favorite American president has been silenced. This is unacceptable," continues Donald Trump.

Former United States President Donald Trump speaks to the press on October 21, 2021 at the White House in Washington Olivier DOULIERY AFP / Archives

Assault on the Capitol

The Republican billionaire was ousted from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube after the violent assault on the Capitol by his supporters, during the certification ceremony of the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential election on January 6.

Five people were killed during or shortly after the attack, including a police officer, but also a protester killed by an officer as she tried to force a door inside the building with dozens of others.

Twitter then excluded Donald Trump "indefinitely because of the risk of further incitement to violence", cutting him off from his nearly 89 million subscribers.

Phot showing Donald Trump's twitter account on August 10, 2020 in Virginia, United States Olivier DOULIERY AFP / Archives

Furious at no longer having access to his favorite megaphone, where he tweeted daily and announced many major presidential decisions as well as thunderous dismissals, the former president had promised the creation of a social network.

He had briefly launched a blog in May, which was in fact only a tab on his site where his press releases were collected, before putting an end to it under the mockery of observers convinced that it was about the network. social promised.

Launch in 2022

Truth Social will be available in beta by invitation from November 2021, before a general launch in the first quarter of 2022, said the press release, which indicates that the application is already available for pre-order on the App Store.

Trump Media & Technology Group will merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) in order to be listed, the statement said.

The DWAC company is a Spac ("Special Purpose Acquisition Company"): a company without commercial activity and whose goal is to raise funds by entering a stock exchange, then to merge with a target company that wishes to be listed, Donald Trump's new group in this case.

DWAC is listed on the Nasdaq index and, according to the press release, Donald Trump's new group would thus be valued at $ 875 million.

The face of former US President Donald Trump on a flag during a far-right parade on August 22, 2021 in Oregon Mathieu Lewis-Rolland AFP

"I'm excited to start sharing my ideas on Truth Social soon," said the one who also had 35 million Facebook followers and 24 million Instagram followers before being banned.

“Congratulations,” said Jason Miller, a former adviser to Mr. Trump and now boss of another conservative social network called “Gettr” in a statement.

“Now Facebook and Twitter will lose even more market share,” Miller added.

© 2021 AFP