July 18, 2023
Alex Gleason, the head of engineering for former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Truth Social app, has resigned.
Gleason, the inventor of Soapbox Technology, a developer of open-source technology for decentralized social media networks, indicated that he is leaving Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) to focus solely on Soapbox development. His ambition is to improve technology for integrating numerous decentralized networks, therefore providing an alternative to Twitter and Facebook.
In January 2022, TMTG hired Gleason to modify Soapbox’s technology as the front-end for the Truth Social app. However, his decision to resign is a setback for the company’s ambitions. Gleason emphasized the unsustainability of centralized social media platforms and praised Nostr for empowering users to regain control over their online lives.
Gleason announced his resignation on the Soapbox website, with the purpose of expanding Soapbox by combining it with the Jack Dorsey-backed Nostr protocol. Soapbox, which was launched in 2019, began as a front-end for Mastodon, a Fediverse program. Mastodon and Soapbox were used to establish Truth Social in 2021, and Gleason served as Head of Engineering at Truth from 2022 until 2023.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
