Thousands of discontented Twitter Users flocked to rival social network Mastodon in response Elon Muskthe announcement of the acquisition.
The platform, often seen as a Twitter alternative, gained nearly 30,000 new users the day the Tesla the billionaire had accepted his $ 44 billion (£ 34.5 billion) offer for the microblogging site.
It has also led to a number of “awakened warriors”, leftist organizations and Musk’s business rivals threatening to leave Twitteralthough the vast majority have yet to delete their accounts.
The influx of new users caused a problem in Mastodon, with the domain not responding on Tuesday.
Thousands of disgruntled Twitter users flocked to rival social network Mastodon in response to announcement of Elon Musk acquisition
Eugen Rochko, the German-born founder and CEO of Mastodon, later admitted that there were performance issues.
“I’ve been working all day to fix performance issues on the Mastodon servers I manage due to the influx of new and returning users following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter,” said to the motherboard.
Rochko said Mastodon saw an increase of 41,287 active users, including both returning users and new users.
Considering new users only, 28,391 people joined Mastodon on the last day.
Mastodon is not a single website like Twitter, but a network of users in independent communities who can set their own guidelines.
While its appearance is similar to Twitter, the decentralized social network actually has more in common with Discord, as users need to find specific instances of Mastodon to join.
It was launched in 2017 for Twitter users tired of the abuse and hatred on the platform.
The network has a 500-character limit on “toots” – its version of tweets – and allows users to set posts as private, which Twitter doesn’t.
It also had a very different feed from Musk’s new acquisition, because Mastodon takes a chronological, ad-free, and non-algorithmic approach.
The company is registered as a non-profit and the development is supported entirely by donations, which means there is no advertising.
Musk, who on Monday struck a $ 44 billion (£ 34.5 billion) deal for Twitter just three weeks after the trial began, tweeted: “I hope even my worst critics stay on Twitter, because this. is what freedom of speech means. “
In a statement, he said he wanted to make “Twitter better than ever by improving the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating spam bots and authenticating all humans.”
Musk added: “Twitter has enormous potential – I’m looking forward to working with the company and the user community to unlock it.”
But opponents, most of the left, were angry and said they would leave, even though most did not carry out the threat.
Amnesty International tweeted: “Two words:” Toxic Twitter “, while Rob Reiner, star of the 1970s sitcom All In The Family, said he feared” criminal “Donald Trump would now reactivate his account, even though the former president has ruled out a return and says it will remain on his “TRUTH Social” platform.
Mastodon, which is often seen as a Twitter alternative, gained nearly 30,000 new users the day Elon Musk accepted his $ 44 billion (£ 34.5 billion) offer for the microblogging site.
Tesla’s rivals have thrown their toys out of the wheelchair, despite Musk insisting that its acquisition is about free speech on profits.
Henrik Fisker, the Danish CEO of electric vehicle maker Fisker, deleted his Twitter account shortly after the company confirmed that Elon Musk has acquired 100% of the company.
He Henrik tweeted: “Please follow me on IG (Instagram) from now on if you want updates. Thanks’, using the hashtag #love.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos wondered if his billionaire colleague Musk could make Twitter vulnerable to pressure from China, due to Tesla’s extensive business responsibilities in the Asian nation.
Bezos and Musk are known for their rivalry in space, with both men devoting much of their fortunes to exploration.
The former rejected his rival’s plan to colonize Mars using his SpaceX rockets as unrealistic, while Musk was ferocious about the orbiting space station proposed by Blue Origin founder Bezos.
