Mozilla leaves the Fediverse and closes its own Mastodon instance
Mozilla's own Mastodon instance will also fall victim to the savings plan at the end of this year. However, users can download and migrate data and accounts.
(Image: davide bonaldo/Shutterstock.com)
Mozilla is ending its experiment with its own Mastodon instance, and thus also its involvement in the Fediverse open social network. The Mozilla.social instance will be shut down on December 17, 2024. Mastodon is considered the primary alternative to X (formerly Twitter) after a number of users left the short messaging service after the takeover by Elon Musk because it became too uncomfortable for them.
Mozilla has not given a reason for shutting down its own Mastodon instance, but it is likely to be related to the large-scale changes announced at Mozilla Corporation in February of this year. It was said that Mozilla wanted to concentrate on Firefox and cut off some of its waste. At the same time, it was also announced that the company would reduce its own Mastodon instance and investments in this area. So now things are getting concrete.
Mozilla's Mastodon instance in little demand
At the end of 2022, Mozilla had promised to set up a freely accessible Mastodon instance as a Twitter alternative. With an instance in the Fediverse, there was to be a "healthy social media alternative". In May 2023, Mozilla opened a waiting list for its own Mastodon instance. Freedom of expression should not be the top priority. However, the instance has probably grown less than expected.
According to the latest Fediverse statistics, Mozilla's Mastodon instance has an average of just 293 monthly active users and 1290 users in total. The largest Mastodon instance (mastodon.social), on the other hand, has around 248,000 monthly active users and more than 2.1 million users in total. Across all instances and servers, Mastodon has almost 7.5 million users, of which more than 807,000 visit the Fediverse at least once a month.
Backing up data and moving is no problem
Mozilla recommends that its Mastodon users download their own data or switch to other Mastodon instances by December 17. Mozilla provides the relevant instructions for this. In contrast to centralized social networks, the data on an open network such as Mastodon and the Fediverse is not lost if the provider closes its service.
heise online also operates its own Mastodon instance in the Fediverse network (social.heise.de) after chaos reigned on Twitter at the end of 2022 and Mastodon was able to grow strongly. Although Twitter, which has since been renamed X, has proven to be more resilient than many expected, Mastodon has also established itself as a serious alternative. This is also shown by heise online's review of Mastodon after its first year in the Fediverse.
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