Elon Musk's decision to buy a stake in Twitter, and his appointment to the company's board, seems to be causing some users to try rival social networking provider Mastodon.
On Tuesday morning, Mastodon founder Eugen Rochko posted: “Sign-ups really picked up since the #elonmusk news.”
Rochko also reposted a take on the “distracted boyfriend” meme, which features a man checking out another woman while his girlfriend looks on, disapprovingly. Except this time, the meme was edited to show the boyfriend checking out Mastodon while ignoring Twitter.
Rochko later told PCMag he didn't have reliable statistics on the sign-up increase across all servers, citing how Mastodon operates as a decentralized social network. But he noted: "As for us at mastodon.social, which is just one server among many, you can see the uptick for today clearly on the dashboard."
Rochko estimates the increase translates to about 1,000 more sign-ups than in previous days. "My conservative estimate of current Mastodon network totals, based on my own stats aggregation, is 3 million registered users and 250k monthly active users," he added.
The interest in Mastodon, which is also open source, is likely due to concern among some users who believe Musk will make major changes to how Twitter operates. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO now owns a 9.2% share in the social media platform, making him the company’s largest shareholder.
On Tuesday, Twitter also announced it was appointing Musk to the company’s board. In response, Musk said he's looking forward to working with Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and the rest of the board “ to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months.”
One change Musk seems to be pushing for is an edit button, which many users have asked for over the years. On Monday, his Twitter account tweeted out a poll, surveying if people were in favor of the button or not. Currently, over 73% support the edit button. In a surprise move, Twitter later confirmed that it has indeed been testing an edit button, but it'll first roll out to Twitter Blue paid subscribers.
However, there’s also concern Musk will oppose Twitter’s effort to crack down on misinformation. Last week, he expressed some disapproval with the social media’s stance on content moderation when he tweeted: “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?”
“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?” he later added.
At the same time, some internet users and Republicans are urging Musk to restore Donald Trump’s account, which was famously banned from Twitter over the former president's actions concerning the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Mastodon, on the other hand, has been poking fun at the news. On Monday, the official Mastodon account on Twitter tweeted: "Mastodon: The social network that Elon Musk does not own 9.2% of (we are a non-profit)."
If you're interested, you can check out our guide on how to get started with Mastodon. The decentralized social network is currently available on the web and as an iOS app. An Android app is set to be released soon.
Editors' Note: Editors' Note: This story has been updated with comment from Rochko.