Easiest way to setup a GraphQL application with Authentication?

Question
1

Hi, I really like the language after some initial digging and want to evaluate it as my web backend.
What is the quickest way to setup a GraphQL Backend with authentication?
Is Scala still used a lot as a web backend or is the activity now mostly somewhere else (Spark/Data processing)?

2

I can’t really help you out with regard to the GraphQL Backend.

However, as to the usage of Scala for web backends:

According to this What's new in Scala 3: all the "small" things - YouTube source, at least Disney Streaming Services seem to be using Scala quite heavily in their backend.