What if you are banned from Mastodon?

Direct from the desk of Dane Williams.

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I take a look at what happens if you’re banned from Mastodon and why Hive’s true Web3 solution is a much better alternative to Twitter.

Spoiler alert: Short answer, you’re fucked.

Despite being billed as a decentralised social media option, Mastodon is not truly censorship-resistant at the account level and as such, fails to protect your account’s data and followers.

In this post I take a look at the details around what happens if you’re banned from Mastodon and discuss why Hive is a much better choice for anyone thinking of making the switch from Twitter to Mastodon.

Let’s jump right in.

Can you move your data and followers to another Mastodon account?

No, you can’t move your data and followers to another Mastodon account.

If you are banned from a Mastodon server, you will not be able to access your account or move your data or followers to another account.

Your only option at this point is to create a new account on a different Mastodon server and ask your followers to follow you on the new account.

If you’re banned from one Mastodon server, you are able to move your data from one Mastodon account to another by using the export feature in the settings menu of your account.

This will allow you to download a backup of your account data, including your posts, toots, and media, in a JSON format.

You can then import this data into your new Mastodon account using the import feature in the settings menu.

As you can see, this doesn’t solve anything for businesses who are looking for a censorship-resistant account that ensures they are always able to put their offer in front of their audience.

How Mastodon servers differ from Twitter’s setup

Mastodon and Twitter are both social media platforms that allow users to create accounts and share content, such as text, images, and video, with other users.

However, they differ in their underlying architecture and how they are organised.

Twitter

Twitter is an entirely centralised platform, which means that all accounts and content are hosted on a single server, owned and operated by the company Twitter Inc.

Users on Twitter can only interact with each other through this central server, and all data is stored and controlled by the company.

Essentially you’re renting your account from Twitter, so any data and followers you attach to it never were yours to begin with.

Mastodon

Mastodon, on the other hand, is billed as a decentralised platform.

It uses a federated model, in which users can choose to join different servers, known as "instances," each of which is operated independently by different organisations or individuals.

These instances are connected to each other and can communicate with each other through a standardised protocol called ActivityPub.

This allows users on different instances to interact with each other and see each other's content.

There are many different Mastodon instances available, and each one has its own rules and policies.

Some instances may have a specific focus or theme, such as a particular language or topic, and may have different terms of service and moderation policies.

Users can therefore choose to join an instance that aligns with their interests and values.

In summary, the main difference between Mastodon and Twitter is that Mastodon is somewhat decentralised and consists of a network of independent servers, while Twitter is entirely centralised and all accounts and content are hosted on a single server.

A Mastodon account is NOT censorship-resistant

While Twitter and Mastodon obviously operate with clear differences on the backend, Mastodon is still not censorship-resistant and thus solves none of the problems users, and especially businesses, face from Twitter..

If a business is banned from a Mastodon server and they have built a significant following on that server, it is impossible to retain their audience if they are unable to access their account on another instance.

If the business decides to create a new Mastodon account on a different instance, they may be able to ask their followers to follow them on the new account and rebuild their audience.

However, it is important to note that this process could also be done on Twitter or any other centralised service.

The whole point of censorship-resistance at the account level is so you can retain your data and following if you are banned from a front-end for whatever reason.

Why Hive is a better alternative to Twitter

Hive is a better alternative to Twitter than Mastodon because your Hive account is actually censorship-resistant.

Hive is a decentralised blockchain network that runs social media dApps on the second layer.

Accounts are housed on the immutable base layer, giving them full censorship-resistance and security.

While the Web3 social media platforms running on top allow anyone with a Hive account to plug in and use them as they please.

Front-ends can choose not to display whichever pieces of data from the blockchain that they or their community chooses not to.

But the difference to Mastodon is that users are simply able to take their single Hive account, with all their data and followers still in tact, and plug it into an alternative social front-end.

As such, businesses are never at risk of not being able to put their message in front of their followers.

This is the type of censorship-resistance that matters when it comes to the future of social media.

All made possible by the fact that accounts run on the immutable Hive blockchain at the network’s base and not split into different, still essentially centralised servers like you see on Mastodon.

Best of probabilities to you.

PS. The best way to get a Hive account is by clicking the big get started button at the top right hand corner of this page and using your Twitter handle to sign up.

You’re then able to take full ownership of your account’s keys (when you’re ready of course) and gain all of the advantages that a Web3 Hive account has to offer.

If you were switching from Twitter to Mastodon, you literally have nothing to lose by also trying Hive.

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