News that Elon Musk wants to take over Twitter is driving even more users to try rival social networking provider Mastodon.
On Thursday, Mastodon Founder Eugen Rochko posted a screenshot, showing user sign-ups at the Mastodon.social server shot up hours after Musk announced his intention to buy Twitter for $41 billion. The surge is significantly higher than the initial uptick Mastodon saw over a week ago when Musk announced he was buying a stake in Twitter.
Still, it’s important to note Mastodon operates as a decentralized social network, akin to email. Hence, Rochko only has access to user sign-up stats for the Mastodon.social server. Nevertheless, he suspects other servers across the network are also seeing a wave of new users.
Some users are likely flocking to Mastodon over fears Musk will make major changes at Twitter. In a TED Talk on Thursday, Musk signaled he wants Twitter to relax its content moderation.
“I do think that we want to be, just very reluctant to delete things. Just very cautious with permanent bans. You know, time-outs would be better than some permanent bans,” he said during the interview.
Musk didn't say how he would regulate hate speech and disinformation on the social media platform. But his goal is for Twitter to prioritize free speech and transparency. This will include open-sourcing Twitter’s content algorithms.
In the meantime, Mastodon has taken to Twitter to criticize Musk’s effort to buy the social media company. “At Mastodon, we present a vision of social media that cannot be bought and owned by any billionaire. Your ability to communicate online should not be at the whims of a single commercial company!” it said in a tweet.
Although Mastodon is seeing some new users, the social network itself remains relatively small compared to Twitter, which has 217 million daily active users. Mastodon has about 250,000 monthly active users out of 3 million registered users, according to Rochko’s estimates.