Mastodon: Fossil or Future?
The richest man [1] on earth bought the most influential social media platform. The richest man on Earth told millions of Twitter users to vote Republican. The richest man on earth proclaimed the reign of absolute freedom, then closed down accounts that parodied him. The richest man on earth sacked half his staff. [2] There are many reasons to dislike Elon Musk’s public persona and his actions. There are many more reasons to leave Muskworld. It’s not clear to me whether Musk bought Twitter as an investment, as a propaganda unit, or a plaything. Perhaps he really does believe he can rescue it through innovation. However, the fear that content moderation and authentication were being jettisoned has sparked fears of a racist, misogynistic, fascistic free-for-all. The highly-principled and often nomadic members of the Wokerati began to experiment with rumoured alternatives, such as Mastodon, and were suddenly aware of something radical called The Fediverse . Although the free Masto...