Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko says Meta's moderation changes are “deeply troubling”, and Mastodon will take action on Threads accounts violating Mastodon's policies
Today Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta is bending the knee … Wall Street Journal : Sources: Zuckerberg demanded a review of an algorithm change after his 2023 knee surgery Facebook post got anemic attention; Meta downplays the significance Bluesky: Will Oremus / @willoremus.com : A point that risks getting overlooked: Meta said it is ending fact-checking *in the US* — but ~90% of its users are outside the US. — This widens the gap between how people experience social media in the US vs. elsewhere, as @viacristiano.bsky.social points out: www.washingtonpost.com/technology/ 2... Mastodon: Eugen Rochko / @Gargron@mastodon.social : The moderation policy changes at Meta are deeply troubling and should be a concern to anyone with a conscience. While the fediverse is a decentralized platform where different service providers have different moderation policies, at mastodon.social, hate speech is prohibited, and we will take action on any Threads account found violating our policies. … Kevin Beaumont / @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social : I intend to fully defederate Threads.net from Cyberplace.social in two weeks, so 23rd January 2025, unless they clarify their moderation policies. — People are welcome to migrate their account in advance to avoid losing their followers from Threads. … @wholegroanoats@tacobelllabs.net : Wake me up when he blocks threads https://techcrunch.com/... Peter / @peter@thepit.social : attention denizens of thepit.social!! we are defederating from Threads.net. if this makes you mad, tell us why and we might change our minds. but as it stands, our rationale is basically the same as Kevin's in the linked post: changes to the Threads.net moderation policy are intended … @jerry@infosec.exchange : Hi all. Given the recent announcement from Meta about AI personas and allowed behavior, I am moving threads.net back to a limit, and will likely move them to a block in the future on infosec.exchange. I can't ignore the reality that the changes they're making are specifically intended to permit attacks on many of the people that call this place home. … Will Phoenix / @Whiskeyomega@cupoftea.social : So given the 83% Yes to 17% I dont think its going to go the other way and I wholeheartedly agree. — I have suspended Cupoftea.social from Threads.net mainly because its lack of moderation across Meta's platforms that is happing. — The whole thing is a dumpster fire waiting to happen and I as an admin of another instance should not be policing someone elses … Eugen Rochko / @Gargron@mastodon.social : @davidaugust Yes. Sadly the interoperability on Threads' side is still lacking in this aspect, and they cannot move accounts between servers like Mastodon users can. However, at least those who migrate can re-follow their Threads contacts manually to help them make the transition to Mastodon. … @stux@mstdn.social : @Gargron We really tried and gave them very much the benefit of the doubt to begin with — Unfortunately they threw it all away with that one change so all we can do now is act I guess @stux@mstdn.social : After close consideration we have come to the decision to block Threads.net instance wide on all related instances — (mstdn.social, masto.ai, mastodon.coffee, pixey.org, gram.social) — The new Meta policy goes against much we stand for and we will not allow to let it spill over to the Fediverse … Threads: Wolfgang Bremer / @wolfgangbremer : I've lost quite some followers on Threads the last 24 hours but gained A LOT on Bluesky once again. 🫡 🦋 See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Threads’ connection to the fediverse moved from Meta’s early ActivityPub publishing tests to a beta that let users cross-post and see federated likes. That made moderation practices at Threads relevant not just to Meta’s own service but to the communities that can choose whether to interoperate with it.
Meta had already aligned Threads with a policy of not proactively recommending political content from accounts users do not follow. The newly announced U.S. end to third-party fact-checking has now prompted Mastodon operators to reassess whether federation with Threads is compatible with their own rules.
First-order effects
- Mastodon says it will enforce its policies against Threads accounts that violate them, while several independent instances are blocking, limiting, or planning to defederate Threads.net.
- Threads users’ ability to reach Mastodon communities will vary by instance, rather than being determined solely by Meta’s federation support.
Second-order effects
- Instance administrators become the operative moderation gatekeepers for cross-network interactions, forcing Meta to contend with community-by-community access decisions rather than a single fediverse relationship.
- The earlier fediverse beta’s cross-posting and engagement features become less useful where major instances restrict Threads, reducing the practical reach of interoperability.
Third-order effects
- Federation is proving to be a conditional distribution channel: technical compatibility does not override each community’s moderation standards.
- If policy divergence persists, the fediverse may remain interoperable at the protocol level but fragment into distinct trust networks with uneven access to large platforms.
The trend: Large social platforms’ entry into open social protocols is turning moderation policy into a direct determinant of interoperability and distribution.