Mastodon CEO steps down to create “billionaire-proof” microblogger

Eugen Rochko has formally resigned from the decentralized Twitter rival Mastodon, but can the platform retain privacy focus, drive up users and remain a tech-billionaire free zone?

The founder and CEO of the microblogging service Mastodon is stepping down from his role in a bid to restructure the social network as a non-profit and differentiate itself from platforms operated by big tech bosses such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

The European company, whose main headquarters is in Berlin, has said that Rochko will receive a one-time compensation of one million euros for his work to date and will continue contributing as an advisor.

Following the former German developer’s departure, the microblogger will be governed by a board of directors that includes Twitter cofounder Biz Stone, as well as current Mastodon staffers community director Hannah Aubry and CFO Felix Hlatky, who takes on the executive director role.

The news follows an announcement in January that Mastodon wanted to create a new nonprofit organization in Europe and to ensure that ownership of the ecosystem and platform did not fall into the hands of one person.

To mark the restructuring, the crowdfunded platform disclosed who some of its major donors are. Stack Exchange founder Jeff Atwood was the largest donor, contributing €2.2 million. Other big contributors include Stone and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark.

Last year, Mastodon, which emphasizes user privacy and moderation flexibility, formed a US-based nonprofit to attract funding and big names such as Stone. Around the same time however, it lost its nonprofit status in Germany.

Other members of the new leadership team include technical director Renaud Chaput, head of comms Andy Piper, and Philip Schröpel, a strategy & product advisor. In total, Mastodon has 10 full-time employees.

User numbers

In a blog the company assured that “There will be no change in users experience at this stage “above and beyond the usual code development and releases.”

However, it added that changes were “definitely in the pipeline.” The new team added that it wants to increase the number of users and facilitate the operation of decentralized network instances.

Unlike platforms like X (formerly Twitter), there is no central company running the entire network. Instead, it is a collection of independent, self-hosted servers run by various individuals and organizations.

The challenge for the board will be to balance guarantees of trust, security, and transparency with the addition of features and driving up user numbers.

While Mastodon is reported to have 10 million registered users, this is much lower than other decentralised platforms such as Bluesky (38 million). Mastodon’s number of active users is also significantly lower – closer to 1 million – showing a leveling off after a major 2022-2023 surge driven by interest in Twitter alternatives following Musk’s takeover.

Unlock more exclusive Cybernews content on YouTube