Mastodon, a decentralized social media platform that many are turning to as a Twitter alternative, saw its userbase skyrocket from about 300,000 monthly active users to 2.5 million between October and November, Mastodonâs CEO, founder, and lead developer Eugen Rochko said in a new blog post. Elon Musk officially took over Twitter in late October, meaning Mastodonâs huge jump in users almost directly followed Muskâs new ownership.
Rochkoâs post also addressed Twitterâs now-reversed bans on sharing links to Mastodon, many journalists, and the @joinmastodon account itself following the still-in-place ban on @ElonJet. âThis is a stark reminder that centralized platforms can impose arbitrary and unfair limits on what you can and canât say while holding your social graph hostage,â Rochko said. âAt Mastodon, we believe that there doesnât have to be a middleman between you and your audience and that journalists and government institutions especially should not have to rely on a private platform to reach the public.â
Rochko, however, sounds confident in Mastodonâs future. âUnderstanding that freedom of the press is absolutely essential for a functional democracy, we are excited to see Mastodon grow and become a household name in newsrooms across the world, and we are committed to continuing to improve our software to face up to new challenges that come with rapid growth and increasing demand,â he wrote.