Which microblogging service is best compatible with your values and goals in the long term? This comparison of four short messaging services that are currently the subject of intense debate is intended to serve as a guide for communication experts in public authorities, educational institutions, media, associations, organisations, foundations and companies.
The decisive factor for the evaluation is the functionality of the services in terms of independent, sovereign and public-interest-oriented communication. We believe that public institutions should be able to inform their target groups independently, transparently, freely accessible, according to their own rules and in a data protection-friendly manner.
Idea and content: Friedemann Ebelt
Realisation: King Consult
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Our mission: We support you with long-term and successful communication in the Fediverse and beyond. With a customized communication concept, you gain new reach, communication opportunities and independence.
 Mastodon |
 Bluesky |
 Threads |
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| Associated services | Mastodon is part of the Fediverse  . Associated projects: PeerTube (cf. YouTube), Pixelfed (cf. Instagram), Nextcloud, ownCloud, WordPress, Bookwyrm (cf. Goodreads), Friendica (cf. Facebook), coming soon: Loops (cf. TikTok) and many more. |
Flashes (cf. Instagram) and other projects | Services of the Meta Group: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp etc. | – |
| Short description | Decentralised and non-commercial software for the operation text-centred social media services, comparable to e-mail: Users choose from a large number of providers | Private social media service of a partly profit-orientated, partly public-interest US company, spin-off from Twitter | Private social media service of the profit-orientated US company Meta, formerly Facebook | Formerly Twitter; private and profit-orientated social media service, purchased twice from Elon Musk's companies: X Corp. 10/2022 and X.AI 03/2025 |
| Summary | ||||
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For all social media, we recommend that professional users work with an individualised communication concept that corresponds to their own long-term goals and values.
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| Is the investment in communication work worthwhile in the long term? | Mastodon and the Fediverse are our recommendation for private and professional users who want to communicate as independently, confidently and free from third-party interests as possible. In the Fediverse, users are active members of a creative community.Investments pay off in independence and the strengthening of communication for the common good. No other network fulfils more criteria of an independent public infrastructure. | Bluesky is currently compatible with the values and goals of many organisations and users, but there are medium and long-term risks associated with dependence on a small group of developers, a US company, US politics and the influence of venture capital investors. Those responsible are aware of the risks, but the technical and organisational countermeasures are not yet sufficient. | Meta's services are optimised for advertising and influencing. Self-determined use is not possible. The weighting of content, communication rules and terms of use are entirely in the hands of Meta. This also applies to the results of invested communication work. Followers, reach and the visibility of accounts and posts are subject to Meta's management. | In our view, X is currently incompatible with the values and goals of many organisations and users. Risks include: contradiction to own values and goals, handling of user date and little control over one's own communication. We recommend investing communication work in other networks and see only a few exceptions to this recommendation. |
| What is the service optimised for? | Independent, self-determined public communication | Public communication | Advertising and attracting attention | Advertising, attracting attention and political influence |
| Trustworthiness of the operators | Depending on the instance up to very high | Medium | Low | Minimal |
| Dependence on third parties | Low | Medium to high | Very high | Very high |
| Compatibility with democratic values | Very high | Medium to high | Low | Minimal |
| Operator, business model, goals | ||||
| Legal form | Distributed organised as a non-profit 501(c)(3) under US law, European non-profit organisation and various legal forms of entities (see blog.joinmastodon.org) | Public Benefit Corp. under US law | Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook, Inc.), listed company under US law | X Corp. owned by X.AI Corp. under US law (formerly Twitter Inc.) |
| Ownership structure | US NGO, European non-profit organisation, thousands of independent private, public and governmental bodies | Jay Graber and others, as well as various venture capital investors | Meta shareholders, exact structure unknown; Mark Zuckerberg is considered the largest shareholder | Elon Musk is the largest shareholder and holds several management positions |
| Business model | Non-profit status, financial independence | Profit maximisation and the common good | Profit maximisation | Profit maximisation and political influence |
| Financing |
Mastodon core organisation:
Various financing models for instances:
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Following the takeover by Elon Musk, the company is no longer listed on the stock exchange, which is why there is no publicly available information about its current business. Sources of income are subscription offers (X Premium), data trading and advertising. |
| Decisive influence of investors? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Is market power a core interest of the service? | No – no serious Mastodon instance strives to become bigger than X, Threads, Bluesky etc. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Rules | ||||
| Terms of use | Varies depending on the instance | bsky.social | instagram.com | Terms and conditions: x.com Rules and guidelines: x.com |
| Rules of behaviour | Varies depending on the instance | bsky.social | Use is considered part of the use of Instagram | "The X Rules": help.x.com |
| Can users in the role of operators set their own rules? | Yes, this is explicitly endorsed | Theoretically yes, not implemented anywhere in practice | No | No |
| Dealing with disinformation, harassment, etc. |
Individual moderation at account and instance level: heise.de Highest moderation ratio. |
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Insufficient, see e.g. reports by edri.org or euractiv.com |
Non-transparent, one-sided and politically motivated moderation, see e.g. reports by techcrunch.com |
| Data management | ||||
| Data protection/privacy | Varies depending on the instance – Information from the German Data Protection Foundation: stiftungdatenschutz.org (DE) | Privacy policy: bsky.social | Privacy policy: instagram.com | Privacy policy: x.com |
| Is non-essential data about users being collected? | No – not on reputable instances | Yes, but less intensive than Meta and X | Yes | Yes |
| Is data about user behaviour processed? | No | Yes, but less intensive than Meta and X | Yes | Yes |
| Is precise location data processed? | No | Yes (opt-out) | Yes | Yes |
| Is data shared with third parties? | No – not on reputable instances | Yes, but less intensive than Meta and X | Yes | Yes |
| With whom is personal data shared? | Not at all | Unclear: Business partners | Unclear: partners and other third parties | Confusing: advertising partners, publishers, third parties |
| Can sensitive data from millions of users be stolen in a hacking attack? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tracking: Are users identified and tracked? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Profiling: Are personality profiles of users created? | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Communication: Strategic aspects | ||||
| With which other media/networks is interaction possible? | Extensive: compatible with various Fediverse alternatives to Instagram, YouTube, TikTok (announced) as well as podcast hosting and much more, partially compatible with Bluesky and Threads; Nextcloud (announced), commenting on WordPress articles optional |
Limited: partially compatible with Mastodon, compatible with Flashes |
Limited: partially compatible with Mastodon |
None |
| Can users choose between different providers? | Yes | In principle, yes, but not in practice. | No | No |
| Can persons or institutions operate the service themselves? | Yes, this is explicitly endorsed | Theoretically yes, practically no. | No | No |
| Does the service enable digital sovereignty? (Caspar Clemens Mierau: Why companies should opt out of US services) | Yes, that is part of the mission of the Fediverse | No, despite extensive openness | No | No |
| Legal risks in transatlantic data transfer and data protection? (taylorwessing.com) | None to low | High | High | High |
| Ecological sustainability | Varies depending on the instance | No sustainability strategy found | No sustainability strategy found | On the contrary: dissemination of misleading statements by the owner |
| Reach and size | ||||
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Notes:
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| Number of followers of the largest account | 839.000 Mastodon admin account (source) |
1.972.000 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (source) |
21.000.000 Neymar Jr (source) |
219.000.000 Elon Musk |
| Number of followers of the European Commission (source) | 121.000 (largest account is 7 times larger) |
70.000 (largest account is 28 times larger) |
192.000 (largest account is 109 times larger) |
1.800.000 (largest account is 122 times larger) |
| Number of followers of the german Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Home Affairs (source) | 7.800 | 1.900 | 6.300 | 191.000 |
| Number of followers of the german news programme tagesschau (source) | 66.000 | 50.000 | 517.000 | 5.200.000 |
| Functions | ||||
| Character limit | Standard: 500 characters, expandable e.g. to 5.000 characters | 300 characters | 500 characters | 280 characters (4.000 in the paid version) |
| Editable posts | Yes | No | Yes, within 15 minutes | Partially, five times within one hour |
| Direct messages | Between several accounts | Only between two accounts | No | Yes |
| Encrypted direct messages | No | No | No | Yes, only verified users |
| Where and how can an account be opened? | Free choice of an instance, there are general offers as well as offers especially for authorities, universities, regions or topics | Bluesky and limited on self-operated servers | Exclusively with Meta | Exclusively on X |
| Is it possible to run your own server? | Yes, this is explicitly endorsed | Yes, partly: docs.bsky.net | No | No |
| Is it possible to migrate an account? | Yes | Yes, with remaining dependency | No | No |
| Can data be deleted completely? (With the exception of external copies) | Yes | Yes | Yes, on request. Duration: up to 90 days | The terms of use only provide for the deactivation of accounts (x.com) |
| Technical features | ||||
| Data security: Is an independent audit available? | Yes (Federal Office for Information Security) | Yes, according to own statement, author and date unknown (source) | No – no open software | No – no open software |
| Server location | Decentralised, distributed worldwide, users have the choice | USA, centralised – partly decentralised | USA, centralised | USA, centralised |
| Protocol | ActivityPub | Authenticated Transfer Protocol (AT Protocol) | ActivityPub | Proprietary protocol, not open, not public and not standardised |
| Is the software open source? | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Number of communication servers (instances) | Thousands of instances | 1, more in principle possible | 1, no more possible | 1, no more possible |
| Is a larger community involved in the further development? | Yes | No | No | No |
| Are timelines sorted algorithmically? | No, chronological | No, but there are options: bsky.social | Yes | Yes |
| Is the network decentralised? | Yes | Partly | No | No |
| Additional sources | ||||
| Selection of additional sources |
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