Twitter Rival Mastodon Rejects Funding To Preserve Nonprofit Status

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Twitter rivalMastodon has rejected more than five investment offers from Silicon Valley venture capital firms in recent months, as its founder pledged to protect the fast-growing social media platform's non-profit status. Mastodon, an open-source microblogging site founded in 2016 by German software developer Eugen Rochko, has seen a surge in users since Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October amid concerns over the billionaire's running of the social media platform.

Rochko told the Financial Times he had received offers from more than five US-based investors to invest 'hundreds of thousands of dollars' in backing the product, following its fast growth. But he said the platform's non-profit status was 'untouchable,' adding that Mastodon's independence and the choice of moderation styles across its servers were part of its attraction. 'Mastodon will not turn into everything you hate about Twitter,' said Rochko. 'The fact that it can be sold to a controversial billionaire, the fact that it can be shut down, go bankrupt and so on. It's the difference in paradigms [between the platforms].'

Rochko is Mastodon's sole shareholder and, according to its 2021 annual report, he paid himself 2,400 euros per month last year, a figure he said has since risen by 500 euros. Mastodon will continue to rely on donations to fund the platform. The site has more than 8,500 donors on the membership platform Patreon, through which it is raising over 25,000 pounds a month. This compares with total earnings of just over 55,000 euros in the six months from June to December 2021. Rochko said his long-term ambition for Mastodon was to replace Twitter and other commercial social networks. 'It's a long road ahead but at the same time, it's bigger than it ever has been.'

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