Twitter has suspended the account of another social media platform that has gained attention in recent weeks in light of controversy Twitter has faced since Elon Musk took over the company.
The Twitter account for Mastodon was suspended as of Thursday night for violating Twitter’s rules. Mastodon became more popular as a possible alternative to Twitter in the aftermath of Musk’s acquisition of the latter at the end of October, with the two platforms having some similarities, but also key differences that appeal to some users looking to leave Twitter.
Mastodon is not owned by a single company or person as a decentralized social media platform. It is instead made up of a network of servers that run independently but can connect to allow people to communicate.
Each server can make its own decisions about content moderation, and potential users are encouraged to join a server with rules that they agree with.
Mastodon is funded by donations and grants and does not feature any ads. Posts in the platform’s feed are also ordered chronologically instead of by an algorithm.
Musk has emphasized his opposition to Twitter’s previous content moderation policies and called himself a free speech “absolutist.” He restored numerous notable banned accounts like those of former President Trump, whose account was suspended in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), whose account was suspended over repeated violations of Twitter’s COVID-19 misinformation policy.
Twitter has since stopped enforcing said COVID-19 misinformation policy.
Almost half of all of Mastodon’s users joined after Musk took over Twitter in late October, the platform’s founder has said.
Mastodon’s suspension comes one day after Twitter suspended an account that tracked the movements of Musk’s private jet using publicly available flight data. Musk had previously said after acquiring Twitter that he would not ban that account based on his own support for free speech.
The Hill has reached out to Twitter and Mastodon for comment.