'Social media should be built on protocols, not platforms,' according to Mastodon's CEO
Last week, Meta announced changes to its content moderation policy, including the removal of third-party fact-checking across its apps in favor of a crowdsourced community notes feature, similar to X.
Today on Equity, Rebecca Bellan caught up with Eugen Rochko, CEO of Mastodon, to explore what these changes mean for users and how decentralized social media platforms like Mastodon could offer a viable alternative to mainstream giants like Meta.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about:
Mastodon’s decision to transition to a non-profit in Europe
The challenges of implementing interoperability with platforms like TikTok -- which is set to “go dark” in the US over the weekend -- and the importance of user choice.
Which other decentralized platforms we should keep an eye on. (Hint: Pixelfed is in the mix.)
Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes here.
Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. We'd also like to thank TechCrunch’s audience development team.
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Protocol Wars - The Fediverse Explained!
In this episode, we dive deep into the origins of two of the leading social networks and the protocols they run on - Threads/ActivityPub and Bluesky/AT protocol. If you've been wondering what the heck the Fediverse is, this episode is for you!
Music provided by Epidemic Sound
Special Thanks to:
Evan Prodomou at Activitypub
Eugen Rochko at Mastodon
John O'Nolan at Ghost
Mike McCue at Flipboard
Adam Mosseri at Meta
Jay Gruber at Bluesky
Ryan Barrett at Bridgy-Fed
Sources:
W3C: https://www.w3.org/
Identica logo: By _Identi.ca_logo.png: Status.net Teamderivative work: Valarauco (talk) - _Identi.ca_logo.png, CC BY 3.0, https://bit.ly/4cKI4le
NY Times Elon and Zuck Cage Match: https://nyti.ms/3XmP2IM
ActivityPub Graphic: Image creator: mray https://bit.ly/3T6sYjh
Activity Streams graphic: By User:Unoli - https://bit.ly/4dIoUhi
Huffpost Twitter Clown Car: https://bit.ly/3YWzPiW
Original Hacker News Mastodon Post: https://bit.ly/3Z9oeNk
NBC News Elon buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/4dwNBx7
Bloomberg Elon Buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Z4X3mW
CBS News Elon Buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/3yUBaw6
NBC News Elon Buys Twitter: https://bit.ly/3Xk5WYB
NY Times Elon Buys Twitter: https://nyti.ms/3z8xLcW
NBC News Twitter Rebrands to X: https://nbcnews.to/3MqIUc8
Verge Twitter Paid Verification: https://bit.ly/3Xn4o06
Forbes How Facebook Beat Myspace: https://bit.ly/3Z3B27X
Guardian Digg users revolt: https://bit.ly/3AF2v5U
Verge Reddit API Shutdown: https://bit.ly/3YWsyzE
Adweek Reddit Platform Visibility: https://bit.ly/3MnLX4Z
Elon F You to Advertisers: https://bit.ly/3XjY35w
404Media AI Shrimp Jesus Explained: https://bit.ly/476VGWJ
Forbes Threads Fastest Growing App: https://bit.ly/3T4VAco
Waveform Secret History of the Internet: https://bit.ly/4dDCmTv
Instagram Statement about Political Content: https://bit.ly/4cJxw65
Wired Google Launches Buzz: https://bit.ly/3X7f69s
Business Insider Google Buzz Privacy Flaw: https://bit.ly/3X2ThIbFTC Charges Google: https://bit.ly/3AD76FA
Shop the merch:
https://shop.mkbhd.com
Socials:
Waveform: https://twitter.com/WVFRM
Waveform: https://www.threads.net/@waveformpodcast
Marques: https://www.threads.net/@mkbhd
Andrew: https://www.threads.net/@andrew_manganelli
David Imel: https://www.threads.net/@davidimel
Adam: https://www.threads.net/@parmesanpapi17
Ellis: https://twitter.com/EllisRovin
TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@waveformpodcast
Join the Discord:
https://discord.gg/mkbhd
Music by 20syl:
https://bit.ly/2S53xlC
Waveform is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
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Rewind: Can Mastodon seize the moment from Twitter?
ActivityPub is back in the news, thanks to Meta’s Threads launch and Elon’s continued immolation of Twitter — now X. That makes this the perfect time to dig into the Decoder archives to hear what Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko thinks about the future of social media. Mastodon got a head start as the most well-known of the rising decentralized social networks, but that’s changing fast. Bluesky, on a competing protocol, is picking up steam and Threads promises to decentralize in the future, using the same ActivityPub protocol as Mastodon. That’s a big deal, with big potential.
Verge Editor-at-Large David Pierce has been covering all this very closely. Before we jump into the interview with Rochko, I spoke with David to help update everyone on what ActivityPub even is, and what it could mean for the future of social media.
Links:
More than two million users have flocked to Mastodon since Elon Musk took over Twitter - The Verge
A beginner’s guide to Mastodon, the hot new open-source Twitter clone - The Verge
Elon Musk - The Verge
Benevolent dictator for life - Wikipedia
Mastodon Social
Eugen Rochko (@Gargron@mastodon.social)
Erase browser history: can AI reset the browser battle? - The Verge
Twitter alternatives for the Musk-averse - The Verge
We tried to run a social media site and it was awful | Financial Times
Denial-of-service attack - Wikipedia
Can ActivityPub save the internet? - The Verge
Five reasons Threads could still go the distance - The Verge
What's next for Threads - The Verge
Transcript:
https://www.theverge.com/e/23422689
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
It was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters and our Executive Director is Eleanor Donovan.
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Can Mastodon seize the moment from Twitter?
Today I’m talking to Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko. Mastodon is the open-source, decentralized competitor to Twitter, and it’s where a lot of Twitter users have gone in this, our post-Elon era. The idea is that you don’t join a single platform that one company controls, you join a server, and that server can show you content from users across the entire network. If you decide you don’t like the people who run your server, or you think they’re moderating content too strictly, you can leave, and take your followers and social graph with you. Think about it like email and you’ll get it – if you don’t like Gmail, you can switch to something else, but you don’t have to quit email entirely as a concept.
Now if you are like me, you hear the words open-source and decentralized, and then the word CEO, and you think – wait, why does the decentralized open standard have a CEO? The whole point is that no single person or company is in charge, right? Well, welcome to the wild world of open-source governance. It’s a riot, my friends – you’re going to hear Eugen and I say the phrase benevolent dictator for life in dead seriousness, because that’s how a lot of these projects are run.
Of course, we also talk about money, and structure – Mastodon doesn’t make a lot of money, and Eugen is figuring out how to build a structure that scale past just a handful of people — but keep that in mind, actually. This tiny mostly volunteer labor of love might very well be the future of social networking, and, if you believe the hype about ActivityPub, might have some part in the future of the web. That’s pretty exciting, even if things are seem a little messy in the moment.
Links:
More than two million users have flocked to Mastodon since Elon Musk took over Twitter
A beginner’s guide to Mastodon, the hot new open-source Twitter clone
Elon Musk
Benevolent dictator for life
Mastodon Social
Eugen Rochko (@Gargron@mastodon.social)
XKCD
Erase browser history: can AI reset the browser battle?
Twitter alternatives for the Musk-averse
We tried to run a social media site and it was awful
Denial-of-service attack
Transcript:
https://www.theverge.com/e/23422689
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
It was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters and our Executive Director is Eleanor Donovan.
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Join the federation?! Mastodon awaits... (Interview)
We talked with Eugen Rochko, the creator of Mastodon, about where Mastodon came from the problem it aimed to solve. How it’s not exactly Twitter alternative, although that’s its known claim to fame. Why it’s probably not going anywhere. The ins-and-outs of federation, getting started, running an instance, why you would want to — cool stuff you’ve never considered could be built on top of Mastodon. And finally, the story behind naming posted content a “toot”.
Join the discussion
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Featuring:
Eugen Rochko – GitHub, X
Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Jerod Santo – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
Show Notes:
ActivityPub
tootsuite/documentation
Giving social networking back to you - The Mastodon Project
Gargron is creating Mastodon | Patreon
documentation/Development-guide.md at master · tootsuite/documentation
Masto.host - Fully Managed Mastodon Hosting
Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!
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