Mastodon was founded on the principles that people should be able to control their social circle online, curate their own timeline, and convene freely with any community of their choosing. We believe social media should help users build bridges, not walls. And we believe this is best achieved through federation.
Today, we are excited to announce that Mastodon is taking important steps to ensure its legal and operational structures better reflect and support the pursuit of these ideals.
Simply, we are going to transfer ownership of key Mastodon ecosystem and platform components (including name and copyrights, among other assets) to a new non-profit organization, affirming the intent that Mastodon should not be owned or controlled by a single individual.
This comes as projects run by rich dudes are having a real moment. WordPress is still melting down as Matt Mullenweg continues to make terrible decisions motivated by rage, and last week Meta made a series of changes that will put people across the world in harm’s way, all in attempt to curry favor with the in-coming administration. Meanwhile, Bluesky continues to take on millions in funding from firms like Bain Capital.
Non-profit governance is not a magic bullet, but if the organization is led by level-headed folks who understand that their decisions have real-world consequences, Mastodon may just be okay.