Gettr CEO Says Twitter Blocking Tweet Imports, Suggests That Makes It a Publisher

Jason Miller, CEO of the social media platform Gettr, released a statement Saturday on Twitter's ability to stop users from importing their tweets into Gettr.

Miller, a former senior adviser to Donald Trump, suggested stopping such imports would make Twitter an "owner" of the content—and thus a "publisher responsible for the content" on its platform.

"Twitter seems to be trying to have it both ways—simultaneously claiming that Twitter users own their tweets, so that Twitter can claim immunity from liability for its content moderation activities under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, but now asserting ownership of its users' content by blocking its users' ability to obtain a copy of their content."

Miller added: "Twitter must decide: does it own everyone's tweets and is therefore a publisher responsible for the content, or do the users own their original posts?"

Gettr launched on July 4, and the company claimed more than a million users joined in its first three days.

"We believe that our First Amendment is so important, that's why we want to create this platform, where people can come together, they can have these debates, and you're not going to get de-platformed simply for expressing a political view," Miller told reporter Scott Thuman, according to ABC 13 News in Virginia.

The one thing Gettr prides itself on, Miller said, is that the site is reliant on free speech.

He stated, "If you believe in free speech, if you reject this notion of cancel culture, if you like superior technology and you don't think that we should have to be subjected to something inferior or junior varsity, and only the Silicon Valley oligarchs can have something fancy, then come join us."

Newsweek reached out to a Twitter spokesperson, who responded with the following statement:

"We have suspended GETTR's developer account and all associated apps due to multiple violations of Twitter's Developer Agreement and Policy. As a part of our commitment to protecting the public conversation, we remain focused on stopping abuse of Twitter's API."

Politico reported the numerous similarities between Gettr and Twitter, with trending tags and short posts. Twitter spokespeople declined to comment to Politico on whether Gettr would violate any of its policies by allowing users to scrape data off Twitter.