MyPillow’s Mike Lindell announced on April 15 that his new social media platform called “Frank,” with the mission of providing a place for free speech as laid out in the U.S. Constitution, will launch on April 19.
In a video statement, Lindell said he’s taken steps to make sure the site is most secure, with his own servers, and will not be subject to censorship on the whims of big tech companies such as Amazon and Google.
“And we are going to get our voice of free speech out there,” Lindell said. “On Monday morning at 9 a.m., we’re going to have the biggest launch. … I call it a Frank-a-thon.”
“I’m going to be on there live all day long. … It’s like a YouTube Twitter combination; you’ve never seen anything like it,” Lindell said of his new project.
“You’re not going to have to worry about what you’re saying and worry about being able to speak out freely.”
He added that the exceptions to this are speech that threatens violence and using foul language, which will not be permitted.
“You don’t get to use the four swear words—the C-word, the N-word, the F-word, or God’s name in vain. Free speech is not pornography; free speech isn’t ‘I’m going to kill you,'” he said.
Many conservatives have been censored by social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook or have had their posts labeled as inaccurate. A Pew 2020 survey took a random national sample of almost 5,000 people and found that most Americans think social media sites censor users based on political viewpoints.
In addition, the survey found that conservatives trust social media companies much less than liberals do when it comes to them making a determination about which post should be labeled as inaccurate. Ninety percent of conservatives have little to no confidence in the platform’s ability to label a post fairly, as compared to 52 percent of liberal users.
Congressional Republicans are trying to hold big companies accountable for what they call censoring of conservatives, by curtailing Section 230, which is part of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996, which largely provides protection to big tech companies from being sued for content on their websites. While many bills have been introduced in Congress by GOP lawmakers, none have become law.
On the state level, Republican leaders have begun adding laws to rein in Big Tech control over what is labeled false and who is deplatformed on their sites.
The Texas Senate recently passed a bill that forbids social media companies that have at least 100 million users per month from blocking, banning, demonetizing, or discriminating against any of their users because of their political views. Other states are following the example.
Lindell’s platform will try to counter such censorship and be a place to congregate for those who have been removed from sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
“They’re going to have a safe place. You won’t have to walk on eggshells anymore,” Lindell said during an appearance on NTD’s “Focus Talk.”
Projections indicate that Frank will draw tens of millions of users in the first week of operation, Lindell told The Epoch Times, pointing to how one of his recent documentaries was watched by 150 million people around the world.
Initially, there’s no intention to make money from Frank.
“I put in all my money. I’m not out to make money. Right now, I’m out to get the word out for free speech. I want people to go out there, all these influencers, and talk about” election fraud claims, Lindell said.
Down the road, advertisements can be added to the platform to help fund it.
One twist the site will have: When people sign up, they’ll automatically follow every influencer. They’ll have the option to stop following influencers whose posts they don’t want to see anymore.
Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
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