How Trump’s allies amplify his Truth Social messages to the wider world

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses how Donald Trump's allies on right-wing media and social media platforms amplify his messages from his Truth Social platform to a wider audience, despite his bans from major social media platforms. It examines how Trump uses Truth Social to spread false claims about election fraud and interference, and how his supporters on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, and cable news shows help spread his messages further.

🙋 Q&A

[01] How Trump's allies amplify his Truth Social messages

1. What are the key ways Trump's allies amplify his messages from Truth Social?

• Right-wing media personalities, influencers, and politicians with large followings on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and podcasts regularly share and repeat Trump's posts from Truth Social, spreading his messages to much larger audiences.
• Figures like conservative radio host Mark Levin, former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka, and online personality Catturd have millions of followers and frequently amplify Trump's content.
• These amplifiers benefit personally from their role in spreading Trump's messages, as it helps them build their brands and audiences within the right-wing media ecosystem.

2. How does Trump's focus on Truth Social factor into this amplification strategy?

• Trump wants to drive traffic and financial value to his Truth Social platform, so he carefully tracks activity and tries to break news on the platform to attract more users.
• Even though Trump has been banned from major platforms like Twitter, his allies can still spread his messages from Truth Social to their large followings on other platforms.
• This allows Trump's messages, whether true or false, to reach a broad swath of the American public despite his social media bans.

3. What types of Trump's posts tend to get the most attention and amplification?

• Posts that make claims of election fraud or interference, discuss Trump's legal cases, or include aggressive insults tend to get the most attention and reposts.
• Five of Trump's 10 most reposted messages involve denying the 2020 election results.
• As Trump has faced more legal troubles, his posts alleging 2024 election interference have started to outnumber claims about 2020 election fraud.

[02] The case of Allison Greenfield

1. How did Trump's allies target Allison Greenfield, a law clerk involved in one of Trump's cases?

• After Trump posted a false claim about Greenfield on Truth Social, right-wing media personalities and influencers like Laura Loomer repeatedly amplified the message, leading to a torrent of threats and abuse directed at Greenfield.
• The attention and harassment from Trump's supporters compelled Greenfield to increase security measures and avoid public transportation.
• Trump continued to attack Greenfield and the judge overseeing his case, even after a temporary pause on a gag order that had prevented him from doing so.

2. What does Greenfield's experience illustrate about Trump's amplification strategy?

• Trump's ability to direct his supporters to target individuals involved in his legal cases, even after being banned from major platforms, demonstrates the power of his allies to spread his messages.
• The coordinated effort by right-wing media and influencers to amplify Trump's attacks on Greenfield shows how they can help him reach a wide audience and harass his perceived opponents, despite efforts to limit his direct reach.