Gettr

After the United States Capitol attack of January 6, 2021, several social media sites banned Donald Trump from their platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Platforms also suspended some Trump supporters and others who were sharing conspiracy theories and extremist content. These actions led to an outcry from some American conservatives that social media sites and Big Tech were deplatforming or shadow banning them. After the bans, Trump began to look for alternative outlets, eventually creating his own blog to share similar content to what he had previously posted on Twitter. After poor reception, he closed the blog shortly after its launch. Jason Miller, then Trump's senior advisor and spokesman since 2016, for several months teased plans by the Trump team to create a social network of their own. == History ==

In June 2021, it was reported that Miller had left Trump's team to become CEO of a tech startup. A beta version of Gettr launched on July 1, 2021, after being added to the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store in mid-June. The platform can also be accessed via the web. Gettr officially launched on July 4, 2021. Miller is CEO, Miller said of his motivations for creating the site, "People were being de-platformed and realizing that the tech giants, so to speak, had [decided] to ally themselves with the more left-of-centre folks, who want to silence people all over". The term "Gettr" is believed by some critics to be code for "get her". Gettr is a privately held company. Miller has said the company was financed by a "consortium of international investors" including a foundation tied to Guo Wengui, a Chinese businessman and dissident with connections to former Trump strategist Steve Bannon and Mar-a-Lago. Media sites tied to Guo have suggested that the platform and its logo were his ideas, though Miller has downplayed the connections. The Daily Beast reported that Gettr was a retooled version of Guo's Chinese internet app, Getome, created by Guo's Chainnov, which Miller confirmed. Miller has said that Guo did not invest money directly and has no official authority within Gettr, On the day of its beta launch, Gettr had several thousand users. There was some initial confusion as to whether the platform was funded by former President Donald Trump. On July 4, 2021, the day of the platform's official launch, Miller stated that it had "more than half a million users". According to estimates from Sensor Tower, Gettr received 1.3million downloads globally between June and July 2021, with the United States and Brazil having the most downloads. In August 2021, it was reported that Trump was considering purchasing equity in the platform, and as of mid-August 2021, Miller said he still aimed to draw Trump to the platform. The platform was briefly hacked on its launch day. Some high-profile Gettr accounts, including those of Miller, U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and Bannon were compromised and had their account names changed to show the name of the alleged attacker and a message supporting Palestine. As of November 2021, Gettr had almost 3 million total users and almost 400,000 daily average users. On December 28, 2021, Gettr laid off its entire security and information technology teams, which included 13 staff members, Gettr's chief information officer (CIO), and Gettr's chief information security officer (CISO). None of these employees were replaced. Three former Gettr employees blamed Guo Wengui for the layoffs. In January 2022, Gettr gained half a million new users with the joining of Joe Rogan, physician and immunologist Robert Malone, and the Twitter suspension of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Rogan announced his Gettr registration on Twitter, and told his 7.8 million followers to join him on the new platform. By January 4, Gettr had more than 540,000 new users since Rogan's registration. == Content ==

Content on Gettr is mostly right-wing. The Germany-based far-right disinformation outlet Disclose.tv maintains an account on Gettr. Trending topics on the platform on the day of Gettr's beta launch included pro-Trump slogans, as well as hashtags including racist and antisemitic slurs and those referring to unevidenced theories about the origins of COVID-19. Shortly after Gettr launched, the platform was inundated with pornography, including hentai. According to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and Politico in August 2021, propaganda from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had begun to "inundate" the platform, including memes encouraging violence against the Western world, beheading videos, and a meme showing Trump being executed in an orange jumpsuit. The content was similar to what has appeared on mainstream platforms like Facebook and Twitter, according to a director of Tech Against Terrorism, but unlike Gettr the other sites have automatic filtering and removal systems in place, and partner through the nonprofit Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism to remove extremist material. In response to questions about the content, Miller said that ISIL was trying to attack Trump supporters because Trump had "wiped [ISIL] off the face of the earth", and that "the only [ISIL] members still alive are keyboard warriors hiding in caves and eating dirt cookies". The study found sixteen examples of images on Gettr that were flagged by PhotoDNA, an image-identification technology used for detecting illegal content, as "child exploitation imagery". In an interview with The New York Times at this time, technology columnist Kara Swisher, Miller said that Gettr had applied to work with PhotoDNA. He argued that Gettr uses "pretty tight filters when it comes to images" and that "any image that gets posted and has a child gets reviewed by a human." According to the Associated Press, Gettr "bans racial and religious epithets and violent threats." However, "a quick search turns up a user whose name includes the N-word as well as pro-Nazi content." who himself created an account. Also according to Miller, Gettr had over 100 moderators as of November 2021, and used artificial intelligence to monitor some content on the platform. In December 2021, Gettr permanently suspended a 23-year-old far-right commentator, white nationalist and former YouTube personality, Nick Fuentes. The site received backlash from Fuentes' fanbase, known as Groypers, as well as Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers, who wrote, "What is the point of a free-speech alternative to Twitter... that doesn't even honor free speech?" Gettr subsequently banned all use of the word "groyper" on the platform. A Gettr spokesperson said "The user in question violated Gettr's clearly defined terms of use and has been suspended from the platform." Fuentes has also lost access from almost every major platform including Facebook, Instagram, Apple's podcast app, TikTok, Discord, Clubhouse, Spotify, and DLive, along with business and consumer services like PayPal, Venmo, Patreon, Airbnb, Shopify, Amazon Web Services, Stripe, Streamlabs and Coinbase. Shortly after joining Gettr, Joe Rogan expressed confusion on The Tim Dillon Show regarding his supposed 9 million follower tally. Miller claimed the figure, exceeding the total number of Gettr users, was meant to show Rogan's "true reach" via a combined Twitter-Gettr follower tally. Prior to this, both Rogan and Dillon dismissed Rogan's follower total as "fugazi" and "fuckery". Miller provided a statement to Gizmodo and The Daily Beast, stating "[w]e've been in contact with Joe Rogan's team and hope that we have addressed any concerns he may have". Gizmodo noted that since Rogan's comments, Gettr appears to have changed "the way these follower counts are displayed" to provide clearer separation. Chinese government influence operations In September 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that Gettr was targeted by a Chinese government influence operation called Spamouflage, which aimed to spread disinformation and state propaganda. Use of platform to threaten U.S. officials On July 29, 2024, in response to a subpoena, Gettr provided "approximately 4,359 posts/replies" from a Virginia man targeting public officials including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and FBI Director Christopher Wray. The man was charged with making death threats. == Platform ==

Gettr has been described as a conservative social media platform. Gettr's user interface and feature set have been described as very similar to those of Twitter, Users can write posts on the platform of up to 777 characters in length, upload images, and upload and edit videos that are up to three minutes long. The platform also includes the ability for users to be verified. == See also ==