Trump's Social Media Venture Given 30-Day Deadline To Stop Violating Software License

Donald Trump s Truth Social media venture has been given a 30-day deadline to stop violating the license of the codebase program the former presidents operation apparently lifted .

We sent a formal letter to Truth Socials chief legal officer, requesting the source code to be made publicly available in compliance with the license , said a statement from the developers of the open-source software Mastodon.

So-called Truth Social has 30 days to comply or the license may be permanently revoked on Nov. 26, the statement said. Trumps company was warned Wednesday.

In a dig at the former president, the statement also noted: Of course we would prefer if people so antithetical to our values did not use and benefit from our labor. But the reality of working on free software is that you give up the possibility of choosing who can and cannot use it from the get-go.

Trumps venture hasnt yet officially started up, but an initial version already online clearly appears to be using the Mastodon software that the startup has declared is part of a proprietary business which it isnt. Use of the word proprietary is worrying, noted the Mastodon statement.

Mastodon founder and lead developer Eugen Rochko told Vices Motherboard last week: Based on the screenshots I have seen, Truth Social absolutely is based on Mastodon.

Rochko said then that he was contacting legal counsel to determine what steps to take.

Didn't take long but that layout is IDENTICAL to the layout of Mastodon 3.0, just recoloured.

Truth Social is a fucking Mastodon fork pic.twitter.com/n0FqZbQTW5

Nicole on Arknights Brainrot (@VValkyriePub) October 21, 2021","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Nicole on Arknights Brainrot","author_url":"https://twitter.com/VValkyriePub","cache_age":86400,"description":"Didn't take long but that layout is IDENTICAL to the layout of Mastodon 3.0, just recoloured.Truth Social is a fucking Mastodon fork pic.twitter.com/n0FqZbQTW5 Nicole on Arknights Brainrot (@VValkyriePub) October 21, 2021\n\n","options":{"_hide_media":{"label":"Hide photos, videos, and cards","value":false},"_hide_thread":{"label":"Hide previous Tweet in conversation thread","value":true},"_maxwidth":{"label":"Adjust width","placeholder":"220-550, in px","value":""},"_theme":{"value":"","values":{"dark":"Use dark theme"}}},"provider_name":"Twitter","thumbnail_height":720,"thumbnail_url":"https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FCMcoflVQAELQ1A.jpg:large","thumbnail_width":1280,"title":"Nicole on Arknights Brainrot on Twitter","type":"rich","url":"https://twitter.com/VValkyriePub/status/1451035108266233863","version":"1.0"},"flags":[],"enhancements":{},"fullBleed":false,"options":{"theme":"news","device":"mobile","editionInfo":{"id":"us","name":"U.S.","link":"https://action.news","locale":"en_US"},"originalEdition":"us","isMapi":false,"isAmp":false,"isVideoEntry":false,"isEntry":true,"isMt":false,"entryId":"617c970ee4b0657357490d07","entryPermalink":"https://action.news/entry/mastodon-code-source-violation-donald-trump-truth-social-media_n_617c970ee4b0657357490d07","entryTagsList":"donald-trump,truth-social,open-source-software","sectionSlug":"politics","deptSlug":"politics-news","sectionRedirectUrl":null,"subcategories":"business,technology","isWide":false,"headerOverride":null,"noVideoAds":false,"disableFloat":false,"isNative":false,"commercialVideo":{"provider":"custom","site_and_category":"us.politics","package":null},"isHighline":false,"vidibleConfigValues":{"cid":"60afc111dcf87c2cd2f5d8bf","overrides":{"front_page_top_videos":{"desktop":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","mobileweb":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d"},"top_media":{"desktop":"60b8e6bdc5449357a7ada147","mobile":"60b8e701c5449357a7ada2ee","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"},"anthology":{"desktop":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","mobile":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"},"content":{"desktop":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","mobile":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","iphone":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","ipad":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","androidphone":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","androidtablet":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c"}},"playerUpdates":{"5668ae6ee4b0b5e26955d6a6":"60d2472d9340d7032ad7e443","56aa41bae4b091744c0440d8":"60e869dc7c5f3b17b6741b81","5841b2b5cc52c716ec6e5a7f":"60b8e355cdd90620331ba185","58b5e2b8d85a10302feee895":"60b64316b171b7444beafdb2","58b74698f78ced31417819ae":"60b8e5bec5449357a7ad9b52","58b74ccecebcea57e2c3a3d1":"60b8e5eac5449357a7ad9ca5","58cff690d85a100b9992bc39":"60b8e616cdd90620331bb0ba","58cffb3fb6d9b972a49a3c9d":"60b8e643cdd90620331bb1f6","58cffdd74d96935d7d6ec180":"60b8e671c5449357a7ad9f66","58d03a84f78ced6518eb2fa7":"60b643c82e76be41f112735c","592edf20e0fa177b0c26f7fd":"60b8e699c5449357a7ada04c","5b35266b158f855373e28256":"60b64354b171b7444beaff4d","5c116f29f79c4171d82b7c2a":"60b64440b171b7444beb040b","5c1170fc600c9a697bf0c6b9":"60b646102e76be41f1127ffc","5c47791afa1b317df8ae0c4f":"60b8e6bdc5449357a7ada147","5c477987a6b48b35f164773d":"60b8e701c5449357a7ada2ee","5c4779ee943c3c2a64f28371":"60b8e747cdd90620331bb861","5c477a26fcd67b26879bc7c2":"60b8e788c5449357a7ada67b","5d8921a78c3ae845f366c9b6":"60ae7be5f3a7c13a30417ff9","58b98b00ba82aa39a6534321":"60d0de7c9340d7032ad1146c","58b9d14cb6d9b96c9ec32af3":"60d0dec19340d7032ad115a0","58cff8eccebcea42931e0436":"60d0e005b627221e9d819d44","592edf5de0fa177b0c26f95b":"60d0e38fb627221e9d81adcf","58cff72fd85a100b9992c112":"60d0e447b627221e9d81b0da","56b4d34fe4b022697697c400":"60d2472d9340d7032ad7e443","60b8e4c0c5449357a7ad957d":"60e869dc7c5f3b17b6741b81"}},"connatixConfigValues":{"defaultPlayer":"ff7fdddc-5441-4253-abc4-f12a33fad58b","clickToPlayPlayer":"d014396e-b366-4c17-aeac-3ce906fa3fd0","videoPagePlayer":"f010447b-d244-4111-a314-7b4542ae4145","verticalPlayer":"e58cb05a-0bc8-4210-9108-fea82726c065","stickyPlayerControl":"52ea1755-d601-4ad1-bccc-d8cce3f0e5da","stickyPlayerON":"8055e9e5-3bda-4933-8d45-9ad814fb6e22"},"topConnatixThumnbailSrc":"https://img.connatix.com/a1226b94-547f-4922-b933-6e6b4722855c/1_th.jpg?crop=480:270,smart&width=480&height=270&format=jpeg&quality=60&fit=crop","customAmpComponents":[],"ampAssetsUrl":"https://amp.assets.huffpost.com","videoTraits":null,"positionInUnitCounts":{"buzz_head":{"count":0},"buzz_body":{"count":0},"buzz_bottom":{"count":0}},"positionInSubUnitCounts":{"article_body":{"count":10},"blog_summary":{"count":0},"before_you_go_content":{"count":0}},"connatixCountsHelper":{"count":1},"buzzfeedTracking":{"context_page_id":"617c970ee4b0657357490d07","context_page_type":"buzz","destination":"huffpost","mode":"mobile","page_edition":"en-us"},"tags":[{"name":"Donald Trump","slug":"donald-trump","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/donald-trump","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/donald-trump","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/donald-trump"},"department":{"name":"Latest News","slug":"politics-news"},"section":{"title":"Politics","slug":"politics"},"topic":{"title":"Donald Trump","slug":"donald-trump","overridesSectionLabel":false},"url":"https://action.news/news/topic/donald-trump"},{"name":"Truth Social","slug":"truth-social","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/truth-social","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/truth-social","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/truth-social"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/truth-social"},{"name":"open source software","slug":"open-source-software","links":{"relativeLink":"topic/open-source-software","permalink":"https://action.news/topic/open-source-software","mobileWebLink":"https://action.news/topic/open-source-software"},"url":"https://action.news/topic/open-source-software"}],"isLiveblogLive":null,"isLiveblog":false,"cetUnit":"buzz_body","bodyAds":["

\r\n\r\n","

\r\n\r\n"],"adCount":0},"isCollectionEmbed":false}">

Didn't take long but that layout is IDENTICAL to the layout of Mastodon 3.0, just recoloured.

Truth Social is a fucking Mastodon fork pic.twitter.com/n0FqZbQTW5
Nicole on Arknights Brainrot (@VValkyriePub) October 21, 2021

Mastodons developers are dedicated to community ownership and public accessibility.

Social networking, back in your hands, touts Mastodons website . Publish anything you want: links, pictures, text, video. All on a platform that is community-owned and ad-free.

The underlying code can be used by anyone providing users comply with Mastodons licensing demands. Its AGPLv3 license (an abbreviation of Affero General Public License, version 3) requires that Mastodons source code and any modifications must be made available to the public by anyone using it.

Notably, neither [Truth Socials] terms [of service] nor any other part of the website contained any references to Mastodon, nor any links to the source code, which are present in Mastodons user interface by default, noted the Mastodon statement.

Your Support Has Never Been More Critical

Other news outlets have retreated behind paywalls. At HuffPost, we believe journalism should be free for everyone.

Would you help us provide essential information to our readers during this critical time? We can't do it without you.

Can't afford to contribute? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.

You've supported HuffPost before, and we'll be honest we could use your help again . We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can't do it without you.

Whether you give once or many more times, we appreciate your contribution to keeping our journalism free for all.

Whether you give just one more time or sign up again to contribute regularly, we appreciate you playing a part in keeping our journalism free for all.

Support HuffPost

Truth Social did not reply to a request for comment from HuffPost.