What if every social platform would be Steward-Owned?
Free our Feeds…
It seems that Mastodon is taking a bold step towards Steward-ownership. By doing so, they secure their mission-driven focus, ensure independence from shareholder primacy, protect themselves from external investor takeovers, and guarantee that future profits can flow back into their mission and community.
This move ensures that Mastodon’s vision—building free, open, and ad-free online communities—will endure for generations to come. Ownership of key Mastodon ecosystem and platform components (including the name, copyrights, and other assets) is being transferred to a new non-profit organization.
This shift affirms the principle that Mastodon should not be owned or controlled by a single individual, nor subjected to profit-driven exploitation… that sounds like steward-ownership, the trending alternative way of structuring a company as a good ancestor.
For Mastodon users and the broader Fediverse community, this transition reinforces what you probably already love about the platform: no ads, no data exploitation, and no manipulative algorithms. It ensures that Mastodon evolves responsibly, prioritizing trust and safety, usability, and discoverability for all.
What an incredible move by Eugen Rochko, Mastodon’s current owner and decision-maker, who famously stated...
“The people should own the town square.”
Mastodon was founded on the principles that people should control their social circles online, curate their own timelines, and freely connect with communities of their choice.
Excited to see what the next six months will bring, as Mastodon transitions away from single-person ownership and enshrines its independence within a dedicated European not-for-profit entity.
No coincidence
It’s perhaps no coincidence that this announcement comes shortly after the controversy surrounding Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. Last week, Meta announced plans to eliminate fact-checkers, “dramatically reduce censorship,” and promote more political content across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, prioritizing free speech in light of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Learn more about Steward-ownership and discover how to protect your mission—just like Mastodon did.
2 days later… Bluesky
Momentum is building quickly. Bluesky too. #BillionaireProof has become a new term...
For many, it is obvious that Elon, Mark, and Donald behave like dictatorial platform owners, primarily focused on further concentrating power and wealth. As the evidence is growing that these platforms are tools for undermining democracy, the counter-movement is gaining momentum. Faster than expected.
And what’s hopeful is that they are addressing the root of the systemic problem: Ownership.
Only a couple of days after Mastodon planned to giveits ownership in the hands of a dedicated non-profit, now the larger Bluesky is also speaking out about its search for the ideal safeguards.
Free our Feeds
The Free Our Feeds campaign aims to push for 'billionaire-proof' social media.
“With Zuckerberg going full Musk last week, we can no longer let billionaires control our digital public square,” they state in their manifesto.
Influential voices, including Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, actor Mark Ruffalo, Mozilla director Nabiha Syed, author Cory Doctorow, and MEP Alexandra Geese, support this call. They are advocating for a social media ecosystem that is independent of billionaire whims.
In short, Free our Feeds aims to build a social media ecosystem that is 'immune to billionaire influence.'
Technically, this isn’t so difficult. Steward-ownership is the ultimate ‘asset lock’ and the ultimate safeguard for mission alignment. It also enables reconciliation with an ambitious growth strategy.
This way, platforms can make decisions independently of shareholder primacy, protect themselves from takeovers by external investors, and ensure that future profits flow back into their mission and community.
This locks their mission-oriented focus.
Forever.
The campaign launched also calls on public organizations to take the first step together by adopting alternatives to Big Tech’s social media platforms... and their "Musk-eteers."
So, if the question is:
How to 'billionaire-proof' social media?
The simple question (and solution) is:
What if every social platform would be Steward-Owned?