#NoKings

As early as 2 years ago, many people in #Germany and #Europe felt that #BigTech ’s internet platforms did not live up to the claim of being #socialmedia. Many were appalled by the #hatespeech, #incitement, #cyberbullying, and #disinformation being spread there.
Our action alliance first reached out to #universities to propose withdrawing from #X and adopting #Mastodon. We believe the #Fediverse platforms are much better suited for #SciComm or, more broadly, for substantive discourse aimed at protecting and preserving our #democracy. Other initiatives have since emerged, such as #ByeByeElon, #HelloQuitX, #LeaveX, and #SaveSocial.

We’ve already seen some initial success: around 150 #academic institutions in Germany are active on Mastodon and have +157k followers there
👉 https://mastodon-listen.playground.54gradsoftware.de/institute-DE
We believe this is an approach we can also recommend to the #research and #academic communities in the #US to fend off attacks from #autocrats .