A few notable events have occurred this month in the social media industry. 

On July 4, GETTR, the social media company where I serve as CEO, celebrated its second anniversary. Shortly after, our friends over at META launched a new social media platform called Threads, aimed at competing with GETTR, Twitter, and Truth Social. In the midst of these developments, GETTR officially surpassed 10 million users

So, what ties all these events together? The threat of censorship.

Earlier this month, after Mark Zuckerberg launched Threads, it faced immediate criticism for censoring its users. The severity of the censorship allegations are so profound that the United States House of Representatives has requested internal documents from Threads related to its censorship policies. Meanwhile, Threads seems to be losing steam, as a data-tracking site reported a significant drop of nearly half of its active users in just one week.

Conversely, GETTR is trending upwards, having recently surpassed 10 million users. A large part of our success is due to our unwavering commitment to ensuring free speech for all our users since our inception over two years ago. 

When I took over as CEO in mid-February, I pledged to transform GETTR into an "Everything App" with a focus on free speech because I firmly believe we in the social media industry must regain the trust of our collective users. More importantly, in a time when global public discourse is highly polarized, it becomes crucial for people to understand one another, and that won't happen if we simply censor opinions we disagree with.

As Winston Churchill aptly said, "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." Unfortunately, according to a recent poll from the independent Pew Research Center, an overwhelming 73 percent of respondents believe that social media platforms intentionally censor content from users they disagree with.

Of course, there are limits to acceptable discourse, and we recognize the difference between meaningful debate and ad hominem attacks. Therefore, GETTR employs a tight moderation process with a substantial team and uses AI to ensure users comply with our community guidelines.

Ultimately, we earn this trust by embracing healthy public discourse, where the exchange of diverse ideas is encouraged. This is precisely why free speech remains the central pillar of GETTR's ethos. And as we continue to evolve and grow, we are committed to unveiling exciting new features and becoming an "Everything App" that appeals to a growing number of "influencers'' and "content creators."

To that end, we are dedicated to pushing the boundaries of innovation and introducing a range of cutting-edge features that will transform GETTR into a true one-stop shop. Our platform now includes GTok, where users can engage in short-form videos, Chill Mode to unwind and discover content at their own pace, GETTR Studio for content creation, an ever-expansive music library to enhance user experiences, tipping options to support content creators, and much more. These additions solidify our commitment to providing a dynamic and engaging social media experience for our users.

Although we respect that our 10 million users won’t agree on everything, we firmly believe in their right to voice their thoughts. This has been our goal during our first 10 million users, and it will continue to guide us as we strive to attract millions more.

Ken Huang
CEO, GETTR