Mastodawn

Yesterday I wrote: "Public institutions are funded by taxpayers' money: their communications serve public interests and should be open to all - without the need of creating social media accounts on proprietary, for-profit closed systems. This is especially salient for European governmental communications: isn’t it absurd that they would require social media accounts owned and run by U.S. based companies?"

Credit goes to @samvie for suggesting I add the bit "funded by taxpayers' money" 🙏

🔗 : https://www.informapirata.it/2026/03/16/architettura-aperta-trasparenza-e-portata-i-tre-motivi-per-cui-le-istituzioni-pubbliche-dovrebbero-abbracciare-il-fediverso-il-post-di-elena-rossini/

I must also thank @macfranc for translating my article in #Italian and publishing it here:

Grazie! 💙

#italiano #fediverso

macfranc 5d ago

@_elena your article is so clear and precise that having an Italian translation is a good thing for all our "evangelists" of the Fediverse 💗

Oliwier Jaszczyszyn 5d ago

@_elena: mind if I make up a Polish translation and publish it on kontrabanda.net?

@macfranc

@oaj i'd be delighted, thank you @macfranc

John Faithfull 🌍🇪🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🧡✊🏻✊🏿5d ago

@_elena @samvie 100%💯 👏

Talia Hussain 5d ago

@_elena @samvie government is not “funded by taxpayers money”, too bad you’re spreading this pernicious myth with an otherwise good argument

Better to say “public money” which would be correct and accurate.

Icanbob 5d ago

@samvie @_elena It gets even better if you believe the MMT folks. In that paradigm European gov spends first then taxes some back. ie. it is the spending which funds not taxes.

https://social.overheid.nl/about

Robert 4d ago

@_elena @samvie

social.overheid.nl - Mastodon Overheid

Berichten van de overheid. Voor iedereen.

Mastodon hosted on social.overheid.nl

Luca Sironi 6d ago

@europeanspodcast @haubles @aral @Gargron @tferrer @rstockm @samvie @EUCommission

ah, ecco, mi ero perso l'account di Henna Virkkunen

@quillmatiq
@_elena @europeanspodcast @haubles @aral @Gargron @tferrer @rstockm @samvie @EUCommission

Luca Sironi 6d ago

@luca

I think I'm gonna ask all the commissioners with a #bluesky account, to *at least* enable #bridgyfed

@luca yes! Many actually have accounts in both places but post far more frequently on Bluesky.

I'm thinking of Alexandra Geese and Henna Virkkunen just to name a few...

Also, X/Twitter give you the illusion of being able to take part in a discussion. Unless you have a the blue check mark, no one sees what you write and no one sees the comments you adress an elected official using Twitter.

Imagine a political assembly where only those wearing a paid badge can use the microphone.

Moving public deliberation to Twitter undermines the very foundation of democracy.

@MichelPatrice indeed.

I was on Twitter for 14 YEARS and I had a blue checkmark (I forget when Twitter gave it to me, but it might have been in 2015-2016?). Checkmark or not, my visibility was terrible unless I posted there every day... and even at that, I might have 30 likes/boosts.

I HATE 99.9% OF ALGORITHMS (except chronological that is). They're just so rubbish when you want to engage in real conversations

Keep doing what you do.

@MichelPatrice thanks ❤️

Nicolas Fressengeas 6d ago

@europeanspodcast @haubles @aral @Gargron @tferrer @rstockm @samvie @EUCommission

> I look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions

Well, great article, Elena ! I would love to disseminate a French version.

Did you link with @leavex ? They carry roughly the same message though not ruling out Bluesky.

Thank you for your thoughts about Bluesky, by the way! I am struggling to understand eurosky. Any thoughts on it?

#SocialMedia #DigitalSovereignty #BigTech #Fediverse #RSS

Leave X - Protect Democracy 6d ago

@fresseng the #LeaveX campaign doesn't rule out #Bluesky, but we favor the Fediverse and particularly #Mastodon. See our message:

https://leavex.eu/posts/concrete-european-alternatives-to-x/

We discussed this with @_elena during #FOSDEM. Specifically, we believe that the Fediverse is the most resilient solution. However, we don't want to exclude the possibility of building *bridges* with the millions of people who have chosen Bluesky. (cc @bjoernsta)

@europeanspodcast @haubles @aral @Gargron @tferrer @rstockm @samvie

Concrete European alternatives to X: Mastodon and Open Portability

On January 22, MEPs Alexandra Geese and Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová were contacted per email regarding these proposals. We will publish their responses here if they answer. Dear Alexandra Geese, Dear Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová, Dear fellow signatories and Members of the European Parliament,

Leave X - Protect Democracy

I don't get the rss part.

I tried with your adress in the Thunderbird rss reader thing, it doesn't seem to work. I added /rss to your adress, still doesn't work.

Does it work with any fediverse adress, or does the account need to have somehow enabled somekind of rss switch?

@MichelPatrice oh that's odd because I follow my Fediverse accounts via RSS feeds (to check if they federate and have a reference... but GoToSocial and Ghost). I wonder if my own Mastodon doesn't work (I couldn't do it either) because it starts with an underscore and it could be a bug?

When I will get back home tonight, I will try with some other accounts.

This rss feature would be quite cool.

@MichelPatrice yeah you basically never miss a post by someone...

Ruud 6d ago

@_elena @MichelPatrice I think you need to add .rss to it. https://mastodon.world/@ruud.rss

@ruud

Thank you. I will try when I get back home.

@ruud @_elena

It works! You have to add .rss instead of /rss.

It is set up on my Thunderbird. I will see, Elena, if your next posts do appear in my rss feed.

@MichelPatrice @ruud thanks! Correcting this ASAP (and crediting Ruud)

@MichelPatrice @ruud done ✅

Michel Patrice 5d ago

It also works with hashtags. I just tried it.

Look for a hashtag in the search box. Click on the hashtag in the result list. Copy the link in navigation bar and add .rss.

I am now just waiting to see if I will get this hashtag's publications from the whole fediverse (which would be cool) or from Mastodon only.

@MichelPatrice wow i need to try this!

luca 6d ago

@_elena @europeanspodcast I don't know if everything will go fine, when european countries will start forcing age verification (that is social control) everywhere.

ImaCrea 6d ago

@_elena Looks amazing, can't wait to read it!! 💫💫

@imacrea thank you M! It was a real labor of love, it took me a week to write / copy-edit it. HUGE thanks to @samvie for her excellent feedback 🙏

I'd be curious to hear what you think after you read it :)

ImaCrea 4d ago

@_elena And.. Just finished reading it. And what can I say? Thank you for your insights and for sharing them in such an effective and enjoyable tone. Public access to social posts without needing an account is a definitive advantage of the fediverse we need to promote more than ever. And yes, when institutions will start to add the mastodon/pixelfed/... logo along other networks, this will contribute to normalise them and should help attracting more folks here. Hopefully! En avant 💫

Elena Rossini ⁂4d ago

@imacrea awww thank you so much for the kind words, I'm delighted to hear you enjoyed my post. Someone volunteered to translate it into French... I'll share the FR version with you once I have it

nicolas ⁂6d ago

@_elena Good post 😊 And in addition to RSS, I believe Mastodon is soon adding a subscribe-via-email feature? So that most people can stay up to date with an account without creating one themselves!

@nclm thank you Nicolas and ooooh I had completely missed this. Sounds EPIC!

P.S.: are you attending JDLL this year? Sadly I can't make it and I'm all kinds of sad about it 😢

P.P.S.: please keep me posted about your thing/announcement in case I miss it 😉

nicolas ⁂6d ago

@_elena Saw it there so it’s still pretty early I’m guessing: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/38163 😅

P.S. Oh no, too bad you’re missing on the conference! ☹️ Are there maybe any other events you’ll be going to? 😊 Pretty sure I’ll attend, yes!

P.P.S. It’s actually public just as of today!! Have a look here for a first glimpse at it: https://code.vinyl-cache.org/vinyl-cache/project-identity/src/branch/main/vinyl-cache-identity.pdf 😁 (By the way, they’re on Mastodon too now! And thank you again for sharing the original call for entries! I’ll post an announcement soon as well)

Add email subscriptions by Gargron · Pull Request #38163 · mastodon/mastodon

WIP

GitHub

al 6d ago

@_elena @europeanspodcast @haubles @aral @Gargron @tferrer @rstockm @samvie @EUCommission Just watched your video and have forwarded the link to a friend
👏👏

@alan thank you Alan!

Leonieke 6d ago

@_elena Kudos on this post!

#Fediverse #privacy #PublicGood

AquaClaire 6d ago

@_elena This is such an important issue! All universities, institutions, citizens & responsible communicators should be using a "communications platform that is accessible to all citizens, without the need for an account; an independent network not subject to [monetisation &] censorship due to opaque algorithms or political bias."
Thanks for this clear explanation!

Nuvalon

6d ago

@_elena
since i deleted my instagram account i have been missing out on important news from my city, which is a real shame.
you make some really good arguments, so i might share this with someone that works for the city.

Sweet Home Alaberta 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇲🇽6d ago

@_elena @europeanspodcast @haubles @aral @Gargron @tferrer @rstockm @samvie @EUCommission
I'd sure like to see a new tech industry of converting (upgrading) institutions and corporations onto the fediverse, linux, office alternatives, etc. Create a sales doc with rationale and cost:benefit estimates that potential clients like colleges/universities, municipalities, hospitals and corps can consider in their budget deliberations.

@_elena @europeanspodcast @haubles @aral @Gargron @tferrer @rstockm @samvie @EUCommission

Bart Knubben 6d ago

🙏 Thanks for making the case!

I believe it is also important to learn from and ‘fame’ the 🇳🇱🇩🇪🇫🇷🇪🇺 government organisations and public institutions who are already active on Mastodon/Fediverse 🧐🙌

https://mastodon.nl/@bartknubben/116141780059397071

John Gaskell 4d ago

@Gargron @EUCommission @_elena @aral @haubles @europeanspodcast @samvie @tferrer @rstockm Yes, well argued Elena. We should all use Mastodon in particular and the Fediverse more generally. Especially all Europeans.
#politics #RejoinEU #politics uk #Europe #EU

@_elena @europeanspodcast @haubles @aral @Gargron @tferrer @rstockm @samvie @EUCommission Hello, is this article available in French? Because it's very informative and interesting!

@souverain thank you! Yesterday someone volunteered to do it but I haven't heard back since. I'd love to have a French version so that I can go advocate for a Fediverse profile in my neighborhood mairie... and also with whomever wins the Mairie de Paris 🤗

@_elena Wow, that would be fantastic! And it's perfect timing because I'm also writing an article in French to help French town halls take a closer look at digital sovereignty through open-source solutions and by sharing examples of people who have successfully implemented these methods in their town halls. I would love to share your article, once it's available in French, by adding a link to it and sharing another experience through your story 🛡️

@souverain thank you! worst case scenario I will do it this Sunday and post it on Monday... I'll keep you in the loop :)

@_elena That's perfect, because my article is scheduled to be published this Monday, the day after the results. We're on the same page! What a wonderful meeting, and congratulations!

@souverain well if he wins, the team of Emmanuel Grégoire is gonna hear from me on Monday 😆🤗

@_elena For my part, I conducted a study on political parties and their use of so-called "sovereign" tools, and I took into consideration the use of Mastodon. Here are the results if you're interested: 👉 https://souverain.ovh/benchmark-souverainete-numerique-partis/

Souveraineté numérique des partis et mouvements politiques français : analyse comparative des dépendances aux GAFAM et grands intermédiaires

Introduction et méthodologie La souveraineté numérique est désormais un thème omniprésent dans le débat public. Beaucoup s’en revendiquent, avec des niveaux très différents de précision et d’exigence et, sur le fond, c’est plutôt une bonne chose : mieux vaut tard que jamais, et le fait que les responsables politiques se saisissent enfin du sujet mérite [...]

Souverain

@souverain super travail, wow !!! I have to admit the results really surprised me (bad surprise, not good). Kudos for the incredible work and let me know if I can ever help out, I 1000% support your mission

@_elena Thank you so much, and I'm following you. I also know you're doing fantastic work to defend this cause, and yes, I'd be happy to exchange ideas and help us organize the resistance as effectively as possible! I think we share common values! 👏

@souverain yes! ❤️

One quick question about Renaissance: I saw that they had a green checkmark next to social media but I couldn't find any links to profiles outside of Big Tech platforms (looking at their website). LMK if they're here :)

@_elena Yes, because they've opened a multitude of Mastodon accounts, I imagine to avoid being scammed, but they don't contribute to them. And since my backup criteria considered Bluesky (as a second-tier choice, because we agree it's not the best), well, they do contribute to their account, even though it's clear there's very little interaction https://bsky.app/profile/renaissance-parti.bsky.social

Renaissance (@renaissance-parti.bsky.social)

Tout a changé. Tout doit changer. Bâtissons une Nouvelle République ! 🇫🇷

Bluesky Social