Like it or not, it should no longer be assumed that "volunteers" are running your instances.
The Mask Group, which now runs three large instances "has raised over US$50 million from private and institutional backers"—their words not mine.
BIG NEWS: Pawoo.net, the world's 2nd biggest Mastodon instance, has just been acquired.
The entity acquiring them is the Mask Group, a business that also runs mstdn.jp and mastodon.cloud. They are also active in the so-called "Web 3.0" space.
If you haven't heard of pawoo.net, it's because many instances have de-federated from it.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mask-network-acquires-pawoo-net-070000858.html
On December 16th the US government restored J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance that was taken away from him by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1954 after he was accused of being a communist.
Historic evidence now shows that the decision to revoke his clearance stemmed from a disagreement between Oppenheimer and the AEC in nuclear weapons policy. After World War II Oppenheimer opposed nuclear proliferation and argued against the development of the hydrogen bomb.
It's amazing it took this long to reverse the decision.
Chris Trottier