A social media platform launched by Jason Miller, former President Trump senior adviser, was hacked within hours of its release on Sunday.
“GETTR” is a Twitter-style app that advertises itself as “a non-bias social network for people all over the world.” Miller told Reuters that more than 500,000 people joined the platform.
The accounts of the platform’s most popular users, mostly former Trump aides, were briefly hacked on the morning of its launch on July 4. Some of the accounts that were hacked include those belonging to Miller, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
“The problem was detected and sealed in a matter of minutes, and all the intruder was able to accomplish was to change a few user names,” Miller said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
Miller told Reuters that the situation had been “rectified” when asked about security on the social media platform.
The launch of “GETTR” comes a month after Trump’s blog was shut down after a mere 29 days. The former president started his now-defunct blog after social media giants banned him from their platforms for violating anti-violence policies following the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. The blog — where Trump sought refuge to post statements after social media giants banned him from their platforms for violating anti-violence policies — failed to amass a fraction of the tens of millions of followers he had on Facebook and Twitter, according to NBC News.
Trump, however, does not have a verified account on “GETTR.” In an interview with Fox News last week, Miller said he hopes the former president will become a user of the platform, but that Trump is exploring several options. Miller denied that the former president is funding “GETTR.”
Trump was banned from Facebook and Twitter in the aftermath of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6 that he helped incite. On the day of the joint session of Congress certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory and amid Trump’s refusal to concede, the then-President told his supporters during a “Stop the Steal” rally hours before the attack to “fight like hell” to overturn the election results.
The former president, who continues to push election fraud falsehoods, accused the social media giants of giving into “cancel culture” and censoring conservatives.
