What is Gettr? Joe Rogan is latest to join US conservative social media platform

Podcast host Joe Rogan has tweeted that he’s joined Gettr, a new social media platform created by an aide to former US president Donald Trump.

It is branded as “the marketplace for ideas” and Rogan, who says he doesn't align with a particular political party, now joins high-profile conservatives from the US, including former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, on the platform.

It's viewed as an alternative to Twitter, which has permanently banned the accounts of Trump, for inciting violence during the US Capitol riots, and US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, for spreading misinformation about Covid-19.

Gettr, which launched on July 4, was founded by former Trump adviser and spokesman Jason Miller. The name is a portmanteau of "getting together” or "get together".

Gettr is a social media app similar to Twitter that was launched by an aide close to Donald Trump. Photo: Gettr

"People were being de-platformed and realising that the tech giants, so to speak, had [decided] to ally themselves with the more left-of-centre folks, who want to silence people all over," said Miller in an interview with British newspaper The Times.

Gettr's interface and features are similar to Twitter in that users can write posts of up to 777 characters or upload images or videos that can be reshared and liked. There’s also a daily trending topics feed, although in the past they’ve been shown to include racist and anti-Semitic slurs as well as reference theories about the origins of Covid-19.

“A brand-new social media platform founded on the principle of free speech, independent thought and rejecting political censorship and ‘cancel culture’,” reads its mission statement on the website.

However, it hasn't been exactly been smooth sailing since the launch. Although it is said to have almost three million users (and 400,000 daily active users) as of November 2021, the platform has also had its issues. Politico reported that there’s been propaganda posted from ISIS, including memes encouraging violence against the Western world, as well as an attack by hackers with explicit images flooding the site.

In December, Gettr also booted American commentator and white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes from the platform for violating their terms of use, although it didn't go into much detail. “What is the point of a free-speech alternative to Twitter... that doesn’t even honour free speech?,” wrote Fuentes on Telegram.

In app stores, the app is rated “M” for mature, meaning it is recommended for those aged 17 and older.

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UAE currency

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950