Social media is usually driven by ads, surveillance, and investor demands. Mastodon is different. The open-source platform puts users first, and now it’s asking those users to help keep it alive with small, voluntary donations.
A new donation banner is starting to roll out in the official Mastodon apps for Android and iOS. If you’re using mastodon.social or mastodon.online and your account is at least four weeks old, you might see it. It’s subtle, easy to dismiss, and won’t keep popping up. This is separate from the existing Donate button in the settings. The team is testing it out to see how users respond before deciding what comes next.
Personally, I donate $1 a month to Mastodon through Patreon. It’s admittedly a tiny amount, but it’s something. I do it because Mastodon doesn’t sell my data. It doesn’t show me ads. It doesn’t shove junk content in my face to make some investor happy. It’s just a straightforward social platform that respects people. That’s rare.
If the new banner is well received, Mastodon may expand this feature so that other server admins can use it too. That would give more Fediverse communities a way to stay financially stable without relying on unpaid volunteers or outside funding. Admins could decide for themselves whether or not to turn it on.
The Mastodon team knows that taking donations isn’t simple. There are legal and technical questions to figure out. They’re not promising a quick rollout everywhere. It’s more of a long-term goal that depends on how this first test goes.
Still, the message is clear. If you want a better kind of internet, one that answers to people instead of advertisers, you might consider kicking in a dollar or two. I already do. And honestly, I’d rather support that than scroll past another ad for garbage I never asked to see.
