After the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk, some users, dissatisfied or worried about the measures announced by its new leader, decided to switch to other platforms, according to Reuters.

From outrage over plans for mass layoffs at the group to fears of a rise in extremism, not to mention opposition to Musk’s preferred subscription model, the reasons for the departures are many.

After Musk buys Bluebird, the number of Twitter alternatives is growing

Mastodon, network “not for sale”

Unknown to the general public until a few days ago, Mastodon is experiencing a wave of popularity among netizens worried about the future of Twitter.

Created in 2016 by German developer Eugen Rochko, the site bills itself as a “free, decentralized, open source social network” with no ads.

Specifically, it allows each user to join a community of their own choosing based on their interests, with the community setting its own rules.

Mastodon, which prides itself on being “not for sale”, consists of a network of thousands of independent servers, also called instances. Members can interact if their servers’ moderation rules are compatible.

On his personal account, Rochko says Mastodon reached more than a million monthly active users as of Monday, adding 1,124 servers and nearly 490,000 new users since Elon Musk took over Twitter on Oct. 27.

However, several users who have been tempted by the experience say they are put off by the platform’s unintuitive look, noting in particular the difficulty of creating an account.

Others complain that content moderation is left to the discretion of group administrators, indicating the risk of arbitrary decisions.

Development

Other potentially attractive platforms for those looking to leave Twitter are still under development.

This is the case with Bluesky, the new project of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, which in late October claimed to have 30,000 people on its waiting list in 48 hours, or with Cohost, which promises that the personal data of its users will never be sold.

Popular platforms such as the microblogging site Tumblr or the audio chat app Clubhouse have regained popularity in online discussions.

Several other startups are also gaining attention, including Counter Social and Tribel Social.

Networks such as Gab, Parler or Truth Social, a platform launched by Donald Trump, presented themselves as conservative alternatives to Twitter even before Elon Musk took it over. They’re probably hoping to get users back, too.

Another limited effect

So far, there’s no sign that these Twitter alternatives can compete with, let alone surpass, Musk’s network, which had nearly 238 million daily active users at the end of June.

In a tweet published on Monday evening, Elon Musk even assured that “the number of Twitter users has increased significantly worldwide since the announcement of the acquisition agreement”, but did not provide numbers.

“And it’s early days,” the billionaire entrepreneur continued. “As Twitter becomes the most trusted source of truth, it will become indispensable.”

It remains to be seen whether the most important personalities on Twitter (singers, athletes, politicians) will continue to be active there, or whether they will be visible on platforms with a much larger audience, such as Facebook, Instagram or TikTok.

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