Better known south of the border, the social network and microblogging site Gettr designed to give voice to American conservatives was launched on Independence Day, July 4, 2021. It was intended as a response to the so-called election theft that Trump and the Republican-Trumpists allegedly suffered in the November presidential election 2020 and its eviction from other platforms, Facebook and Twitter, not to name them.
Its user interface and features are compared to those of the Twitter network. But shortly after its launch, things quickly went wrong for this precursor network of the all-new Truth Social, tailor-made for the clientele of ex-President Donald Trump.
Launched by members of the former president, Gettr was quickly overwhelmed with extremist (videos of beheadings) and pornographic content, trolls and other terrorist and jihadist propaganda, according to Politico magazine.
Besides the proliferation of content mentioned, the Gettr platform was hacked on the day of its launch. Accounts of politicians and former Trump cabinet members have been compromised and nearly 90,000 email accounts have been deleted from servers.
Freedom of expression or the absence of filters and moderators
Described as a conservative social media platform, Gettr boasted when it launched that it was a “bias-free social network”, an alternative to traditional social networks, dictated by anti-crime goals. cancel culturethe promotion of common sense, the defense of freedom of expression, the questioning of social media monopolies and the creation of a real market of ideas.
Behind these good wishes, this famous freedom of expression has given the opportunity to many malicious and extremist people and groups who were hunted on Facebook and Twitter to invade Gettr with outrageous content without being worried by filters and other algorithms. ‘artificial intelligence.
Each new so-called free social network or champion of freedom of expression is immediately attacked by communities of petty thugs from the keyboard to terrorist organizations, not to mention disinformation experts and propagandists from rogue states who have the United States or the West in their sights.
Gettr
Gettr mobile app, on Android
When freedom of expression turns against itself
Conservative subscribers were shocked to discover that their favorite network was “open” to hate speech and material without restrictions. Islamic State supporters have begun urging their followers on other social networks to sign up to the pro-Trump network, in part to bring the jihadist fight directly to the MAGA Nation (Make America Great Again).
As you might expect, free access quickly closed and the jihadist accounts published on Gettr were removed.
For their part, Facebook and Twitter rely on the databases of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism organization to remove enemy content as quickly as possible.
Subsequently, the network began to moderate its users, as well as setting a limit on the disclosure of personal data (doxxing) or sharing other people’s addresses.
Even right-wing extremists taste it
The Gettr platform, which hosts supremacist groups like the Proud Boys, resigned itself last December to suspending individuals like Nick Fuentes, a 23-year-old far-right commentator and former YouTube personality.
Its supporters, united under the name of Groypers, in turn attacked the Gettr network, which then banned any use of the word “groyper” on the platform.
As Senator Wendy Rogers (Arizona) put it, “What’s the point of a free-speech alternative to Twitter…that doesn’t even honor free speech? “. That sums up the dilemma of these so-called free speech platforms.
Only 3 million subscribers
According to Wikipedia, Gettr had nearly 3 million subscribers and nearly 400,000 daily users last November.
Made up of the portmanteau getting together or get together, the Gettr network is rated 17 years and over or M for adults on mobile application stores.
The arrival of Truth Social on mobile devices and the web could very well signal the end of the Gettr network if former President Trump’s loyal followers follow suit.
But if Truth Social operates with the same modus operandi as Gettr, sooner or later it will end up like the latter by cannibalizing itself.