Before his stint as ruler of the free world, former President Donald Trump made a fortune slapping his name on buildings other people had built. Now, he’s being accused of doing the same thing with his social media platform. Users who were able to access and create accounts on a beta version of Trump’s “TRUTH Social” through a backdoor immediately noticed that it bore an uncanny resemblance to Mastodon, an alternative social network known for its focus on privacy and “free speech” values. The company’s founder and lead developer, Eugen Rochko, pointed out to VICE News’ Motherboard that the error message on Trump’s new social platform used his site’s elephant mascot. In fact, one user even snapped a screenshot of the site’s HTML code that explicitly mentioned Mastodon, leading many to surmise that it had lifted the company’s code directly.
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