Social · Germany (DE)
Mastodon
German open-source federated social network — decentralised, no algorithm, no ads.
The switch
Twitter / X→Mastodon
About
Decentralised social network built in Germany on the ActivityPub protocol. No central company owns the data — you join an independent server. No algorithmic feed, no ads, no data reselling. The de facto European alternative to X/Twitter.
Why we recommend it
- Non-profit — no investors, no ads, ever
- AGPLv3 — full open source
- ActivityPub federated — interoperable
- No algorithmic feed, no engagement bait
- 12M+ accounts across EU-hosted instances
EU vs USA
Mastodon vs Twitter / X
Side-by-side on jurisdiction, data residency, and the rules that decide who can actually read your data.
Criteria
🇪🇺 Mastodon
🇺🇸 Twitter / X
Headquarters
Berlin, Germany (Mastodon gGmbH)
San Francisco, CA, USA
Jurisdiction
Germany (GDPR)
USA (CLOUD Act, FISA 702)
Data location
Distributed (each server under its own jurisdiction)
Global, US-controlled
GDPR-native
Yes
No
CLOUD Act / FISA exposed
No
Yes
Ad tracking
No
Yes
End-to-end encryption
No
No
Open source
Yes
No
Ownership
Mastodon gGmbH (non-profit)
X Corp. (private, Elon Musk)
Founded
2016
2006
Compare head-to-head
Mastodon vs the US incumbents
See all European alternatives to Twitter / X.