Mastodon is a social network platform that operates on a decentralized system without a central server controlling user data. Instead, users can create their own servers and communities with specific rules.
Mastodon offers privacy and free speech since users can create and join niche communities without being subject to the algorithms and censorship of traditional social media platforms.
Mastodon’s unique structure also allows users to follow and interact with others across instances (servers), promoting a more connected and diverse online community. First announced on Hacker News in 2016 and created by Eugen Rochko, Mastodon’s adoption rate increased substantially after Elon Musk acquired Twitter.
Mastodon Social’s ownership structure
Since the platform is an open-source and decentralized social networking service, it is not owned by any individual or company.
The software is available for anyone to use and modify under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License. The Mastodon project is supported by a community of developers and users who contribute to its development and maintenance.
Mastodon is collectively owned by server administrators who are free to dictate their own terms of service. This lack of centralization means it would be near impossible for an entity to acquire the platform. Even if it did obtain access to the software, it would not have control over the content on each server and, in any case, each server is owned by a different person.
Mastodon gGmbH
Rochko established the German non-profit Mastodon gGmbH in 2021 to “provide clear separation between me as a natural person and Mastodon as a legal and fiscal entity.” According to the inaugural annual report, Mastodon GmbH is 100% owned by Rochko.
Mastodon’s incorporation was beneficial on three fronts:
- Transfer of assets – assets owned by Rochko such as the mastodon.social and mastodon.online instances would be transferred to Mastodon GmbH.
- Potential for future relationships – the non-profit legal structure enables new entities to be added to the partnership clearly and transparently. This arrangement is well suited to the platform’s open-source nature because incorporation creates a governance structure to manage key contributors.
- Risk reduction – Rochko also acknowledged that Mastodon had reached a size where it was vulnerable to legal confrontations of some nature. As a non-profit, Mastodon can entertain risks more comfortably and protect the private capital of contributors.
The annual report also noted that between June and December 2021, the platform earned €55.3k via Patreon and Stripe. It also received an €8.9k grant financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
At the end of the year, NLnet also agreed to fund Mastodon’s research and development for 2022 with an additional €45k contribution. This capital would later prove very useful as Mastodon’s servers were overwhelmed with new users after Musk acquired Twitter.
Key takeaways:
- Mastodon is a social network platform that operates on a decentralized system without a central server controlling user data. It was created by Eugen Rochko in 2016 and first announced by Hacker News.
- Since Mastodon Social is an open-source and decentralized social networking service, it is not owned by any individual or company. This lack of centralization means it would be almost impossible for an entity to acquire the platform in its entirety.
- Rochko established the German non-profit Mastodon gGmbH in 2021 to provide separation between himself and Mastodon as a fiscal and legal entity.
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