Digital Rights and the Fediverse

The "fediverse" is a social media network deeply aligned with the values of the digital rights and internet freedom movements - community-owned and governed, open source, decentralized, transparent, and free (as in speech, beer, and... puppies[1]).

This page is here to help digital rights individuals and organizations understand and join in to the fediverse, with guides, and a community-owned starter pack to help you find others and get started quickly!

What is the Fediverse?

The Fediverse is "a collection of social networking services that can communicate with each other using a common protocol." (more on Wikipedia). This means you can have community-focused governance and content moderation, while still having access to content on other instances as much as you'd like. See the resources below for more information!

This means if you have some issue with your account, or some content elsewhere, you don't have to appeal to some faraway faceless corporation and hope for a response -- you and your community are in charge of your account and your experience!

How the fediverse fits in with other social media

An overview of the current social media landscape.

Fediverse governance

Research on content moderation and governance in medium-to-large sized Fediverse servers.

Protocols not Platforms

Critical digital rights reading about the value of protocol-driven tools like the fediverse.

Social Web Foundation

The Social Web Foundation works to grow this new ecosystem in an open, healthy, and sustainable way.

Getting started

You can access the Fediverse from your web browser, and apps for your desktop or mobile. You can also use the F-Droid app store.

OpenPortability

Reconnect with contacts from Twitter/X in Mastodon and Bluesky

Fedi.Tips

A checklist approach, with useful tips and guides.

TechCrunch's guide the the Fediverse

Also discusses Bluesky and Threads

Observatório do Fediverso

Guia em português

Create an account!

You can create an account anywhere in the fediverse and (mostly) connect with everyone else. Different hosts have different content moderation approaches, and attract different crowds. You can change hosts later, so don't sweat this decision too much - just dive in!

JoinMastodon

Set up on the server hosted by the lead Mastodon organization or find one more aligned with your specific community!

Curated list of options

Fedi.Garden provides a curated list of servers commited to quality community moderation.

TechPolicy.Social

techpolicy.social is a privately-managed Mastodon instance intended for use by technology and internet policy professionals.

infosec.exchange

A Mastodon instance for info/cyber security-minded people.

Starter Packs

A starter pack is a great way to follow some folks from the digital security & internet freedom community and some interesting content in your feed!

Here is a starter pack for the community: Digital Rights in the Fediverse. If you don't want to allow the site access to your account to follow the list, you can also follow the manual steps below.

  1. Download the Digital Rights Fediverse Starter Pack (CSV file)
  2. On the web, go to your Mastodon server's web interface (Navigate to Settings -> Import/Export – > Import) (The link is /settings/imports on your server, e.g. https://mastodon.social/settings/imports)
  3. Upload the file - done!

Adding to this list

Please make suggestions using this form.

Removing yourself from the list

Please use the same form and put “REMOVE” for the “name” field. A confirmation DM will be sent to the mastodon account.

Browse the list

You can see the list directly in this spreadsheet

Host your own!

You can also host your own Mastodon server - just for yourself, for a community, or for an organization!

Source code

Run your own server! Maximal control of moderation, jurisdiction, and infrastructure decisions, but requires you to manage systems, upgrades, and moderation roles.

Masto.Host

Tiered pricing for managed Mastodon hosting services, hosted in France. Systems and upgrades are fully managed, you build your own moderation system.

Institutional Hosting

Scaled, large organizational hosting options, optionally inclusive of moderation and legal support, run by the Mastodon organization.