'Real consequences': Report warns Trump could use Truth Social to 'inflict real-world damage'
Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform could be weaponized to become the former president’s most powerful tool against his enemies, Forbes reported Sunday.
Already hosting almost daily messages from Trump railing against perceived attacks from the Department or Justice, Jack Smith and many, many others, Forbes’ Matt Novak wrote that it wouldn’t take a huge step for him to use it to mobilize his own army of followers to act.
Truth Social could become a tool to pass down orders and direct actions, he suggested.
“The more you look at how Trump is currently using Truth Social, it becomes clear how he could harness the freedom he has on that site to weaponize his followers against the U.S. government in a way that he wasn’t allowed to do on Facebook and Twitter after the insurrection,” the report states.
“Because there’s nobody to cut off Trump’s social media microphone on a platform that he owns.”
Trump was banned from Twitter after Jan. 6, 2021, because the platform's overseers claimed he used his account to incite the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
He was allowed back on when Elon Musk bought the company, but has yet to post to it.
“And there’s one very good reason for that decision. It’s all about control,” Novak wrote.
The fact that he owns Truth Social, and that nobody has oversight of what he writes, means, “Truth Social has the potential to be used by Trump in an unprecedented weaponization of social media to inflict real-world damage against perceived enemies,” Novak said.
He added, “While many people will brush off Trump’s ranting on Truth Social as mere bluster, stirring up his army of online followers could easily have real consequences in the weeks and months ahead.”
“...Truth Social is in many ways the app that has been envisioned by Trump’s supporters that could lead to another violent attempt to overthrow the government.”