Introduction

On July 4, 2021, a new social media platform entered the ring, purporting to be a more open version of Twitter. Jason Miller, a former Trump spokesman, decided to leave his job and become the CEO of GETTR in order to combat Big Tech. In his launch statement, Miller touts GETTR as a "marketplace of ideas" that will not "cancel people for their political opinions" while offering "far more features and better technology than [the competition]". These features include the following:

• Longer messages – up to 777 characters.
• Sharper and clearer images.
• Ability to post longer videos – up to 3 minutes long.
• Video editing within the App.
• Importation of existing Tweets to GETTR upon signup for many users, so users’ hard work, creativity and intellectual property joins the GETTR platform with them.

As well as upcoming features including:

• In-App “tipping” and online appreciation for content creators.
• Ability to donate to political campaigns.
• Live-streaming videos.

Those list of features sound pretty nice provided that GETTR can do all of that smoothly. While I did not open an account (more on that later), the platform basically functions like Twitter. The overall aesthetic looks pretty nice and I was able to navigate from post to post without issues. Heck, it already has an app ready for Apple and Android users provided that Apple and Google will not take it down for "harboring hateful content". So why the huge skepticism from the my title?

Well, when you look under the hood, there are some signs that range from unappealing to alarming.

You're Using Whose Servers?

I first learned about GETTR via The Lotus Eaters on Odysee. One user by the name of fennecfox investigated the infrastructure behind GETTR and found something extremely ironic:

Yep, it's using Google servers. In his launch announcement, Miller stated that "GETTR is a direct challenge to the social media oligarchs from Silicon Valley". So... why are you relying on the Biggest Baddie of Big Tech to run your platform, Miller? Parler used to rely on Amazon's servers, but was kicked out of the service after getting blamed for Jan. 6. There's little reason not to believe that Google will find a convenient excuse to do the same.

On top of that, when GETTR launched on Independence Day, some of the top accounts were defaced as a result of a hack and the hacker claimed that the platforms has several other security holes.

It's a Centralized Platform

The issues I have with many so-called "free speech" platforms are their centralized nature and their tendency to contain a ton of caveats on what's allowed or not allowed. I've already criticized another platform, Mike Lindell's Frank, for these reasons. GETTR is no exception and when you look at the Terms of Service... parts of it are a major turnoff.

Take this part of the TOS, for instance:

GETTR holds freedom of speech as its core value and does not wish to censor your opinions. Nonetheless, you may not post on or transmit through the Service any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, indecent, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, pornographic, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind.

Some of it sounds reasonable like not posting unlawful, defamatory, or libelous content mainly because they have very specific definitions. However, some of the other things the TOS lists can be very open to interpretation which is a red flag. Even "sexually explicit" can be easily stretched as I already witnessed on other platforms. On Minds, I've seen tradcons calling completely non-sexual anime drawings as either pornographic or pedophilic.

There is also this:

... the links and the content on your website do not portray GETTR or its products or services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive manner, and do not contain content that is unlawful, offensive, obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, threatening, harassing, or abusive, or that violate any right of any third-party or are otherwise objectionable to GETTR. GETTR reserves the right to suspend or prohibit linking to the Service for any reason, in its sole discretion, without advance notice or any liability of any kind to you or any third-party.

I completely understand why GETTR would not want links to articles that make false or misleading claims about the platforms. However, the same issue of broad interpretations arise with "derogatory". Hypothetically, you can share a link to an article that is critical of GETTR and get it flagged as derogatory because it may hurt the platform's merits even if it's warranted.

Closing Thoughts: There Are Already Better Options Out There

On the surface, GETTR looks nice and the list of current and upcoming features look very promising. However, under the hood, I see multiple problems with the infrastructure and Terms of Service. The platform touts itself as one that values free speech, but the broadness of certain parts of the TOS leaves open the possibility of it becoming censorious. And why is it relying on Google servers, again?

There are many other alternatives that do similar things as GETTR. Even better, many of them are also independent and decentralized as well as offering additional perks. On Minds (referral link), for instance, you can earn Minds tokens (though the current rewards system is questionable) and chat with other users on Minds Chat. Other platforms like PeakD and Pocketnet (referral link) run on the blockchain which makes them effectively more transparent and censorship-resistant than their centralized counterparts. In addition, like Minds, you can earn tokens for your content: HIVE and Pocketcoin, respectively.