Mastodon, a fast-growing, open-source competitor to Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), has been the target of numerous investment bids, yet founder Eugen Rochko has pledged to maintain the platform’s non-profit status.
In a recent interview with the Financial Times, German software developer Rochko said more than five US-based investors had offered to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in the microblogging site.
But rather than go the easy route, Rochko contended that Mastodon’s independence and non-profit status were part of the site’s rapidly rising popularity.
“Mastodon will not turn into everything you hate about Twitter,” confirmed Rochko, pointing to Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover of the rival platform.
Rochko took umbrage at Musk’s censorious policies which saw accounts being blocked for sharing publicly available flight data and links to rival social media platforms (including Mastodon), calling it a “stark reminder that centralised platforms can impose arbitrary and unfair limits on what you can and can’t say”.
Mastodon differs from Twitter in that it comprises many individually moderated servers instead of one overarching authority.
Rather than shareholders and private equity firms, Mastodon relies on donations via fundraising platform Patreon.
At the time of writing, Mastodon has 9,266 patrons donating over £28,000 (US$33,900) per month.
But with a rapidly increasing user base, Mastodon is likely to encounter greater operating costs going forward.
The non-profit has only five developers working for it, while up to and above 350,000 new users are joining every week.
Given the vastly expanded user base, Mastodon has encountered its share of teething problems as servers have struggled to keep up with demand.
“It’s a long road ahead but at the same time, it’s bigger than it ever has been,” stated Rochko.