Conservative social media app Gettr claims to have 4 million registered users, and bills itself as the “fastest-growing social media platform in history.” Big claims – especially given the setbacks faced by similar conservative platforms, from the implosion of Parler to the deplatforming of Gab.
The conservative social media boomlet dates back to Jan. 8, 2021, when Donald Trump, the second sitting president to join Twitter, became the first commander-in-chief to be banned from the service.
Conservatives who cried out that Trump’s First Amendment rights were being violated were swiftly reminded that Twitter, as a private company, could suspend any accounts it wanted. Unless conservatives took over Twitter, Trump would remain Twitterless. Well, as they say: if you can’t beat ‘em, clone ‘em.
On July 4, 2021, former Trump spokesman Jason Miller launched Gettr, a social media site with many of the same features as Twitter.
Despite not having actually managed to get the 45th president to sign up, there’s no doubt that Gettr has been experiencing a recent surge in popularity. (Trump plans to launch his own network, Truth Social, though his project is already mired in controversy, including allegations that it ripped off open source software Mastodon.)
So, what’s behind Gettr’s newfound popularity? The platform received a major boost in users last month when controversial commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan joined.
Even after Joe Rogan disparaged the platform as “fugazi” for displaying an account’s following as the sum of their Gettr and Twitter followers (it has since separated these values), app review data collected by Thinknum shows the growth of Gettr was substantial.
A significant rise in Gettr app reviews, according Thinknum’s data, happened shortly after Joe Rogan announced he was joining Gettr on January 2 — the same day Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was banned from her personal Twitter account. An increase in app reviews often signals an increase in usage and downloads.
But the platform's current success isn't due to Rogan alone. Besides Rogan, plenty of influential conservative figures have significant presences on Gettr. Here are 10 of the highest-profile accounts on the service:
1. Joe Rogan
Gettr Followers: 1,336,995
Rogan’s podcast is exclusive to Spotify, which paid him around $200 million for the privilege. That’s caused problems for Spotify recently as he’s been dogged by accusations that he spread Covid misinformation and a viral clip that shows instances of him using the n-word. Nonetheless, his popularity is undeniable, especially on Gettr, where he has over 1.3 million followers.
2. Mike Pompeo
Gettr Followers: 1,158,684
While Rogan’s 1.3 million Gettr followers pale in comparison to his 8.3 million Twitter followers, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s numbers are nearly tied across the two platforms: he has 1,158,684 followers on Gettr compared to 1,204,050 on Twitter. Since leaving the State Department, Pompeo has joined the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.
3. Newsmax
Gettr Followers: 921,572
Newsmax, like Pompeo, has almost as many followers on Gettr as it does on Twitter, where it has 1,072,869. The conservative media organization is known for courting controversy, and has been sued by Dominion Voting Systems for allegedly spreading misinformation related to voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
4. Steve Bannon
Gettr Followers: 825,430
Most well-known as the founder of Brietbart and a key advisor to Trump during the 2016 election, Steve Bannon’s follower count on Twitter is zero — he was banned from the platform in November 2020 for suggesting Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray should be beheaded.
5. WarRoom
Gettr Followers: 660,905
Bannon’s War Room is Bannon’s political podcast, and its Gettr account claims that it’s “America’s #1 Political Podcast” — quite a feat considering Bannon’s ban from Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, MailChimp, and other platforms.
6. Jason Miller
Gettr Followers: 594,314
The founder and CEO of Gettr, Jason Miller has struggled to get his former boss to sign up for the platform, though he remains optimistic about the prospect. Miller has been influential in growing the platform, including in Brazil, which is home to the app’s second-largest user base.
7. Natalie Harp
Gettr Followers: 205,281
Harp owes her Gettr following in part to the nightly news show she hosts on the One America News Network, which caters to a similar audience as Fox News and Newsmax. Harp also assisted with Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign as a member of an advisory board, often acting as a media surrogate.
8. Sean Parnell
Gettr Followers: 179,145
After the incumbent Republican senator from Pennsylvania Pat Toomey announced he would not run for re-election for the seat, several conservatives emerged as frontrunners for the Republican Party’s nomination. Among them was Sean Parnell, who received a coveted endorsement from Trump. However, after a judge ruled against Parnell in a custody dispute and suggested that his ex-wife’s claims that he was physically abusive toward her and their children were credible, he suspended his candidacy. Trump reportedly expressed disappointment with the results of his endorsement.
9. Rep. Madison Cawthorn
Gettr Followers: 143,294
Rep. Madison Cawthorn was elected to represent North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District in 2020, after defeating a Trump-backed candidate in a runoff election. Cawthorn was accused of a pattern of sexual misconduct in 2021, and last month a group of North Carolina voters formally challenged his eligibility for the 2022 election, in which he intends to run for re-election, over his support of the January 6th insurrection.
10. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
Gettr Followers: 104,290
Like Cawthorn, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a new member of Congress, having represented Georgia’s 14th Congressional District since 2021. Greene is also an avid purveyor of conspiracy theories; she has promoted QAnon and a particularly outlandish notion about wildfires being started by space lasers controlled by Jews, among others.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online, jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings, and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
