Mastodon

Mastodon's account was taken down just hours after it posted a link to a now-banned account tracking new Twitter owner Elon Musk's private jet.

[tweeted](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1589414958508691456?s=20&t=F4qTVW8UyEWbxOQTQDzDMQ) last month he would let it remain online: "My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk." Musk promised he would allow all speech permissible by law on Twitter prior to completing his $44 billion deal to buy the company. [Mastodon Isn’t A Replacement For Twitter—But It Has Rewards Of Its Own](https://www.forbes.com/sites/rashishrivastava/2022/11/04/mastodon-isnt-a-replacement-for-twitterbut-it-has-rewards-of-its-own/?sh=5199856a6eb6) (Forbes) [Twitter Suspends Account Tracking Elon Musk's Private Jet](https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/12/14/twitter-suspends-account-tracking-elon-musks-private-jet/?sh=136bb8931f99) (Forbes) The account has appeared to bother Musk for at least a year: Late last year, Musk offered the account’s operator $5,000 to stop tracking his jet, according to [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/14/tech/elonjet-twitter-suspended/index.html). This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info." [earlier](https://twitter.com/donie/status/1603542490900226049?s=20&t=_OLoEDnLTS-6tJomOJs3Rg) in the day tweeted a link to an account on its own platform tracking the location of Musk's jet, just a day after a similar account [was banned from Twitter](https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/12/14/twitter-suspends-account-tracking-elon-musks-private-jet/?sh=136bb8931f99).

He restored numerous notable banned accounts like those of former President Trump, whose account was suspended in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, ...

Musk had previously said after acquiring Twitter that he would not ban that account based on his own support for free speech. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), whose account was suspended over repeated violations of Twitter’s COVID-19 misinformation policy. [Elon Musk](https://thehill.com/tag/elon-musk/) [Elon Musk](https://thehill.com/people/elon-musk/) [Free speech](https://thehill.com/tag/free-speech/) [Mastodon](https://thehill.com/tag/mastodon/) [Mastodon](https://thehill.com/social-tags/mastodon/) [Trump](https://thehill.com/people/trump/) [Twitter suspension](https://thehill.com/tag/twitter-suspension/) [Technology](https://thehill.com/policy/technology/) [Technology](https://thehill.com/policy/technology/) [Technology](https://thehill.com/policy/technology/) [Overnight Technology](https://thehill.com/policy/technology/overnights/) [See All](https://thehill.com/policy/technology/) [was suspended as of Thursday night](https://twitter.com/joinmastodon) for violating Twitter’s rules. Posts in the platform’s feed are also ordered chronologically instead of by an algorithm. It is instead made up of a network of servers that run independently but can connect to allow people to communicate.

Elon Musk doesn't want Twitter users linking to Mastodon anymore, apparently. (Photo by Daniel Oberhaus via Flickr, Graphic by The Desk).

Officials at Twitter have been difficult to reach, in large part because most of the website’s communications team has been laid off. [had their accounts suspended on Thursday](https://thedesk.net/2022/12/twitter-suspending-journalists-elon-musk-mastodon/) after they tweeted information about Mastodon, with some posting a direct link to the new ElonJets profile there. At least one journalist, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, said his account was “permanently in read-only mode.”

Insider's attempt to publish tweets containing Mastodon links were met with an error message identifying the tweet's content as "potentially harmful."

[suspended the official Mastodon Twitter account](https://twitter.com/joinmastodon). Each attempt was met with an error message that read: "Your Tweet couldn't be sent because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful. [December 16, 2022]

The social media giant has also suspended the Twitter account of its new rival.

And sanctions, soon," she tweeted. "Elon Musk should be aware of that. [sue the owner of a Twitter account that tracked his private jet.](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-63978323) This account has also been suspended. And Twitter is also stopping users from adding links to their Mastodon account in their bios - calling them "malware". Twitter has blocked links to some of the largest servers which users would join, including the most popular "social" channel. Twitter has blocked its users from sharing some links to its social media rival Mastodon.

Mastodon, Twitters open-source rival, was removed from the service on Thursday afternoon. Mastodon tweeted a link to Musks private aircraft tracking account ...

[Jack Sweeney](/topic/jack-sweeney), a [Florida](/topic/florida)student’s account, along with several other jet-tracking bots, like the one that updated [Mark Zuckerberg](/news/mark-zuckerberg), [Meta](/topic/meta)CEO’s status. Mastodon’s servers, independent but open instances of the social network, are governed by individuals, who can impose regulations. [Elon Musk](/panache/panache-people-101/elon-musk/profileshow/79257472.cms)initially declared that Twitter would accept any non-illegal speech, but he has now blocked particular accounts for personal reasons.

Users trying to post links to Mastodon servers revived a notice saying the posts were “potentially harmful.”

During the call, Musk tried to Musk had [previously](https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-shadowban-elonjet-private-jet-twitter-1849882446) tried to pay Sweeney $5,000 to voluntarily remove the account. [suspended again](https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-twitter-elonjet-banned-private-plane-tracker-1849891785) for allegedly violating Twitter’s rules. Researchers, activists, journalists, and an assortment of other disaffected Twitter users fled to the platform after Musk, well, basically turned Twitter into the very “ [free-for-all hellscape](https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-twitter-stocks-advertisers-1849709610),” he said he wanted to avoid. [claims](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-07/mastodon-struggles-to-keep-up-with-surge-of-new-users-fleeing-twitter) it drew in nearly half a million users in the first two weeks after Musk took over the helm at Twitter. 2 Years + 2 Months Subscription](https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/kinja-deals/lifehacker)

Joining a Mastodon server only requires a few personal details. Screenshot by Peter Butler/CNET. Most Mastodon servers with open registration will only ask for ...

[Fediverse](https://fediverse.party/). The site currently lists about 80 servers that have committed to the [Mastodon Server Covenant](https://joinmastodon.org/covenant), an agreement to enforce moderation, make backups of the site and give at least three months warning before ever shutting down an instance. (And say hello!) You can follow any account on Mastodon, whether or not it's on your own server instance, and the account's posts will be added to your Home feed in chronological order. Another large general server that I recently joined is [mas.to](https://mas.to/about). Each post is limited to 500 characters (instead of 280), and you can include links, images (JPG, GIF or PNG, up to 8MB), audio files (MP3, OGG, WAV, FLAC, OPUS, AAC, M4A and 3GP up to 40MB) and videos (MP4, M4V, MOV, WebM up to 40MB). If you don't find a server that you like on joinmastodon.org, you can try other Mastodon directories, such as [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/) is a free social media service that functions much like Twitter. [Mastodon](/tech/services-and-software/ex-tweeters-are-moving-to-twitter-alternative-mastodon-how-to-sign-up/) has been a big beneficiary. Now, Twitter has [banned accounts that Musk promised to protect](/news/social-media/twitter-account-tracking-musks-jet-suspended-after-crazy-stalker-incident/) and [suspended several prominent journalists](/news/social-media/elon-musk-bans-journalists-on-twitter-who-reported-on-elon-musk/) who report on Elon Musk. He says the original button was called "publish," but a committed supporter promised lifetime support of the Mastodon Patreon account if he would change it to "toot." [Elon Musk took control of Twitter](/news/social-media/elon-musk-takes-over-twitter-fires-executives/) on Oct.

Elon Musk's Twitter sparked an international outcry on Thursday by suspending a number of journalists at major news organizations who cover him.

That definition could take a variety of forms, but it would need to pass muster with the judge before prosecutors would even have a shot at arguing that Twitter’s conduct was anticompetitive. “If Twitter has market power, it may have some duties to deal with competitors,” Slaiman said. Sharing Mastodon user handles as plain text, and using link-shortening services that obscured the destination URL, allowed users to get around the restrictions. CNN confirmed some of the reports with its own testing, finding that Twitter blocked attempts to tweet links referring users to a Mastodon profile. “Twitter is now attempting to prevent its users from navigating to the official social media accounts of elected officials on other platforms,” said Virginia Democratic Rep. As news of the journalist suspensions spread, many Twitter users announced they were migrating or expanding to Mastodon.

Mastodon is a decentralized (aka “federated”) approach to social media. Here's what that means.

Posting is simple. At this point, Mastodon really is a lot like Twitter. Each server has a feed of posts from everyone in its community. Joanna Stern/The Wall Street Journal So, pack the minivan and head to social-media utopia!? Mastodon is a decentralized (aka “federated”) approach to social media.