Ben Pate 🤘🏻15h ago

Have you seen this news?

#Mastodon just got funding to add end to end encryption into their software.

So, some time next year, you’ll be able to send truly private messages to the vast majority of the #Fediverse

Im so excited about this.

Because it’s an open spec, this opens the doors for every Fediverse app to join the party.

Yesterday, this project was a proof of concept. Today, Mastodon has turned it into a stampede.

#E2EE

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/04/sovereign-tech-agency-funding/

Sovereign Tech Agency funding

Announcing a service agreement for new work to improve Mastodon and the broader ecosystem.

Mastodon Blog
Show threadsenna.apk14h ago

@benpate I'm wondering what the advantage of e2ee private messages on Mastodon is when we have Signal, Matrix and other robust encrypted messaging tools that you could invite a friend to if you want to have a private conversation.

Is anyone worried about this creating moderation issues?

Generally I'm in favor of privacy and security, but I'm just not sure what the value of this feature is on Mastodon. Maybe you or others can provide your perspective on this.

Show threadWeird Socks
@earth_walker @benpate
Yes.
The very first thing that occurred to me reading this was: "Hmm. Adding E2EE without first implementing the long requested tools to make it less easy to harass people is going to potentially make moderation more challenging and Mastodon more unsafe than it is."
7:13pmWeb