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Twitter Substitute: Mastodon is it Secure?

Mastodon, a Twitter substitute, has gained popularity as the Musk era gets underway, however, is it more private and safe than Twitter?

Mastodon resembles a hybrid of Twitter and Discord. It is a microblogging network, like Twitter. It hosts hundreds of separate servers, unlike Twitter, and is decentralized.

Mastodon is self-funded and dependent on member donations and the administrator's goodwill. The servers are often run by volunteer moderators and focused on a single topic, such as politics or technology. Each has unique guidelines and a sign-up procedure. Users do not require special access to view posts and interact with others because users can join as many as they like and follow people across different sections.

People who switch from Twitter to Mastodon make the first error of thinking that it will be a resembling alternative. 

Mastodon Security

Forbes spoke to numerous specialists who addressed security issues with Mastodon's architecture and potential programming flaws in an article published this week. 

"Mastodon isn't the cure many people abandoning Twitter may think it is," cautioned Cybrary's senior director of threat intelligence, David Maynor.

For your Mastodon account, enable two-factor authentication. Mastodon's design may have flaws, according to Melissa Bischoping, director and endpoint security research specialist at Tanium. The website is divided up into 'instances,' or separately maintained sections. In addition to developing the rules for each 'instance,' administrators are also in charge of the site's infrastructure and software.

User verification is another function that falls under the general security category. Anybody can sign up at any of Mastodon's several distinct instances, independent servers managed by various admins because you are not registered and pretend to be you. 

Finally, numerous instances have been created solely for the goal of testing security and reporting flaws and vulnerabilities, allowing the ethical hacking and bug-hunting community to continue to participate and enhance the security of the platform as it becomes more widely used.


Twitter Users Switch to Mastodon. What Next?


Mastodon, a platform similar to Twitter getting famous

In the aftermath of Elon Musk taking over Twitter, few users have been using alternative platforms. Mastodon is one of the biggest beneficiaries. But what is it? Let's read more about it.

In terms of appearance, Mastodon looks like Twitter, account users write "toots" (meaning posts), which be liked, re-posted, and replied to. The users can also follow each other. Beneath the surface, however, its working is different. 

It is one of the reasons why the platform is getting a lot of users, but it has made some doubts for new users signing up. The platform is six years old, but its current rise is unbelievable, getting overwhelmed by new followers every day. Here's everything you want to know about it.

Selecting servers

The first thing a user has to do after signing up is select a server, there are many. The themes vary from county, city, or interest- like UK, social, technology, gaming, etc. 

It doesn't matter which server you are using, as you can follow users from any server, however, it gives you a familiar community that'll share similar content, the kind you might be interested in. Famous ones like social and UK- are currently running very slowly because of the high demand. 

How to find people? 

The server you select becomes part of your username, for instance, if you are using your current Twitter handle "XYZ" on a UK server, the username will be @xyzmastodonapp.uk. So here's your user address, the people can search it to find you on the app. If you're on the same server, you can find a person using their name, but if they are on another server, you will need their full address. 

In this matter, it is different from Twitter, Mastodon will not recommend users you might be interested in. You can also look for hashtags. 

Moderation of Mastodon

Zoe Kleinman, writer at BBC says:

"This is a real hot potato. At the moment all the servers have their own moderation rules, and some have none. Some servers are choosing not to link to others that are full of bots or seem to have a high quantity of hateful content - this means they will not be visible to those on the servers where they are blocked. Posts can also be reported to the server owners."

In case of hate speech or illegal content, the owners can remove it, but it doesn't assure that the content is removed from everywhere. 

If Mastodon continues to grow, it can become a major issue. There have already been cases of people being targeted via hateful content, and the use of homophobic harassment. 

What about the ads?

No, there are no ads. But you can promote your company or services, as there are no regulations. Mastodon also doesn't have a curated experience like Twitter, where you view posts on the basis of what your followers are talking about. 

Is it paid or free?

It depends on the server you are using, some ask for donations, as they don't get paid, however, a large part of it is free.