Social networking provider Mastodon is threatening to sue Donald Trump’s upcoming social media platform for allegedly misusing Mastodon’s open-source computer code.
On Friday, Mastodon announced it had sent a formal letter to Trump’s “Truth Social” platform, demanding it comply with the open-source license for Mastodon’s computer code within 30 days. If Truth Social doesn’t, then Mastodon could sue the platform for copyright infringement, according to Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko.
The dispute centers on how Trump’s “Truth Social” platform appears to rely on Mastodon’s open-source computer code to power the site. A test version of Truth Social went live earlier this month and users immediately noticed it adopted several design elements from Mastodon’s software.
Using Mastodon’s code is fine since it’s an open-source project. However, if you do so, the software license demands the code and ensuing modifications to your Mastodon-powered platform be made publicly available. Truth Social, however, doesn’t seem to credit Mastodon at all. Instead, the platform claims all source code from Trump’s social media site is “proprietary,” and controlled solely by Truth Social.
“Notably, neither the terms nor any other part of the website contained any references to Mastodon, nor any links to the source code, which are present in Mastodon’s user interface by default,” Mastodon says.
As a result, the social network is accusing Truth Social of violating the “AGPLv3” software license for Mastodon. On Tuesday, lawyers for Mastodon sent a letter, demanding Trump’s platform release its source code.
“After being notified by the copyright holder, Truth Social has 30 days to comply or the license may be permanently revoked,” Mastodon’s announcement adds.
In an email, Rochko adds: “The license we’re talking about here is a legal construct and not a physical item or digital key. So we’re talking about the license being revoked in the sense that a court of law would find it so. Using the code without a license would mean copyright infringement, and the avenues for fighting copyright infringement would be open to us then.”
Another nonprofit group, the Software Freedom Conservancy, is also threatening to sue Trump’s social media platform for failing to comply with Mastodon’s software license. “If they fail to do this within 30 days, their rights and permissions in the software are automatically and permanently terminated. That’s how AGPLv3’s cure provision works — no exceptions — even if you’re a real estate mogul, reality television star, or even a former POTUS,” the group wrote last week.
Trump’s representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
