Eugen Rochko, the German developer who founded Mastodon in 2016, does not want to change the statutes of his company to enrich himself. Since Elon Musk took power at Twitter, his first rival, Mastodon, has been designated as the ideal platform to welcome those who are dissatisfied, disappointed and shocked by the policy pursued by the South African billionaire. Its user base has seen an unprecedented rise and, inevitably, several Silicon Valley investors have taken a closer interest in it.
So that according to the FinancialTimes (via Ars Technica), at least five investment firms made concrete offers to Eugen Rochko, who swept them all away. “I turned down hundreds of thousands of dollars each time”he explains.
Above all, do not become Twitter
For him, Mastodon is non-profit and will remain so, since it is precisely this status that will prevent it from turning into this Twitter that people no longer appreciate. “We have to stay independent and we have to keep our hands on moderation completely, that’s what makes Mastodon appeal to users”he explains before adding: “Mastodon will not be this network whose fate is subject to the goodwill of a millionaire or shareholders. We cannot be closed overnight, we cannot go bankrupt, we cannot radically change our path It’s a huge difference between us and Twitter.”.
In his eyes, the misadventures experienced by Twitter since its takeover by Elon Musk (for 44 billion dollars last October) are there to remind us that “Centralized platforms can impose arbitrary measures and unfair limits on what can or cannot be said”. Mastodon values its difference, and it’s the main reason why people who leave Twitter turn to a healthier network. As a result, between October and November, Mastodon’s traffic went from 300,000 to some 2.5 million active users. On November 18 alone, nearly 250,000 downloads of the Mastodon application were recorded.
As a reminder, unlike Twitter, Mastodon operates on the basis of independent and decentralized servers, with their own moderation rules, all federated within a unified ecosystem.
Participatory financial support
Eugen Rochko, however, rose amid Mastodon’s resurgence in popularity. If he had paid himself an average monthly salary of $2,400 in 2021, the sole shareholder of the structure now pays himself $2,900 per month. The development of Mastodon continues thanks to the donations of its users on the Patreon platform. There are over 9,000 donors at present, providing funding of approximately $30,000 monthly.
And Eugen Rochko to note that with each new escapade of Elon Musk, Mastodon knows a wave of newcomers. Latest example: while the number of new downloads had dropped to 6,000 per day in early December, it was enough for Elon Musk to limit links to other social networks on Twitter for Mastodon downloads to be propelled to 64,000 December 18.
Eugen Rochko’s ultimate ambition? Replace Twitter and other social networks based on commercial mechanics. “The road is long, but at the same time it is bigger than ever”he declares mischievously.