Behind the Code of Trump’s Social Platform

Truth Social, launched by Trump Media & Technology Group in early 2022, has positioned itself as a “free speech” alternative to mainstream social media giants like Twitter and Facebook. While the platform’s political motivations are widely discussed, fewer people know about the technology stack and programming languages behind its creation.

In this article, we dive into the programming languages that built Truth Social, along with the frameworks and systems that support it.

What Is Truth Social Built On?

Truth Social is primarily based on Mastodon, a free, open-source, decentralized social networking software built on the ActivityPub protocol. By leveraging Mastodon’s framework, Truth Social was able to accelerate its development and deployment.

1. Ruby – Core Language of Mastodon

Mastodon is primarily written in Ruby, using the popular Ruby on Rails web application framework.

• Why Ruby?
  Ruby is known for its developer-friendly syntax, rapid development capabilities, and large open-source ecosystem.
• Ruby on Rails handles the backend logic, routing, and database interactions in Mastodon-based systems like Truth Social.

2. JavaScript – Dynamic Frontend Interactions

The frontend of Mastodon (and thus Truth Social) uses JavaScript heavily for interactivity and user experience.

• Built with React.js, a modern JavaScript library for building user interfaces.
• Enables real-time updates, seamless transitions, and interactive features like likes, reposts (ReTruths), and comment threads.

3. SCSS/CSS – Styling and User Interface

For styling, Mastodon utilizes SCSS, a superset of CSS that allows variables, nested rules, and mixins.

• Ensures a clean, responsive, and mobile-friendly design.
• Truth Social maintains a UI similar to Twitter, made possible by modern CSS tools.

Similar Post: Twitter now X – Programming Languages That Built It

4. PostgreSQL – Database Management

The database behind Mastodon (and Truth Social) is PostgreSQL, an advanced open-source relational database.

• Known for scalability, data integrity, and complex query support.
• Stores user data, post histories, and interactions.

5. Redis – Real-Time Caching and Performance

Redis, an in-memory key-value store, is used for:

• Session caching
• Real-time notifications
• Background jobs processing

This enhances Truth Social’s speed and responsiveness.

6. Elasticsearch – Search Functionality

For fast and flexible search across the platform, Elasticsearch is used.

• Helps users find posts, profiles, and hashtags in milliseconds.
• Supports full-text and filtered search queries.

Truth Social’s Hosting and Deployment Stack

Beyond programming languages, here are some tools used for deployment:

• Docker – For containerization and consistent environments.
• NGINX – As a reverse proxy server.
• Cloud Services – Initially AWS, though subject to change due to policy concerns.
• Sidekiq – For background job processing in Ruby applications.

Controversy: Forking Open Source Without Proper Credit?

When Truth Social launched, developers noticed it used Mastodon’s code without proper attribution, violating Mastodon’s AGPLv3 license. This sparked backlash until TMTG eventually added the required acknowledgments and shared parts of its source code.

In Conclusion

The programming languages and tech stack behind Truth Social are not unique, but they’re powerful. By building on Mastodon’s Ruby-based architecture, and using modern frontend tools like React.js, the platform was able to scale quickly and deliver a familiar social media experience.

While its political impact remains a hot topic, the technology behind it is a testament to the flexibility and power of open-source tools in the modern web era.