AI startup Perplexity is powering a new AI-powered search engine on TruthSocial, President Donald Trump’s social media platform. The search engine, called Truth Search AI, is already available on the web version of Truth Social, with public beta testing planned for its iOS and Android apps in the near future.
Trump Media stated that Perplexity’s technology provides direct, contextually accurate answers with transparent citations, which will help Truth Social significantly expand the information available to users. However, the platform retains control over the sources the AI search engine uses.
Truth Social is utilizing the Perplexity Sonar API, which queries the web to retrieve current and verified information—even if that information comes from websites that block Perplexity’s crawlers. The API also supports structured output, allowing users to define the format of search responses.
Jesse Dwyer, a Perplexity spokesperson, told TechCrunch that the Sonar API’s accuracy depends on the sources Truth Social permits. “We have no visibility or control over that,” Dwyer said. “It’s similar to a company or academic researcher using the API to search their own data.”
TechCrunch has reached out to Trump Media for details on whether Truth Search AI will access the entire web, prioritize certain sources, or be directed to respond favorably toward the former president and unfavorably toward Democrats.
To test the search engine’s sources, Axios asked it questions like “What happened on January 6, 2021?” and “Why was Donald Trump impeached?” In responses, FoxNews.com was the most common or only cited source, alongside others like FoxBusiness.com, The Washington Times, and Epoch Times.
By contrast, Perplexity’s public search engine cites a broader range of sources, including Wikipedia, Reddit, YouTube, NPR, and Politico.
Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media and a former California congressman, said Truth Social will refine and expand the search function based on user feedback while implementing additional platform enhancements.
Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, emphasized that its AI provides answers with transparent citations, allowing users to explore sources further.
In late July, alongside his AI Action Plan, Trump issued an executive order targeting “biased AI,” referring to models that are not “ideologically neutral.” The order criticized concepts like systemic racism and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as “pervasive and destructive” ideologies that could distort AI output.
Truth Search AI’s launch coincides with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google being added to a list of approved AI vendors for federal agencies. OpenAI recently secured a deal to provide ChatGPT Enterprise to government agencies for just $1 per year.