Open Rights Group Links Big Tech Control to Post Office Failure; Calls for EU Funding to Rescue Mastodon

I had the opportunity to tell the founders of the Sovereign Tech Agency (@sovtechfund) that I'm a big fan of their organization. I firmly believe that other countries should have similar initiatives. In fact, the EU should have one too. Their recent €600k+ grant to Mastodon is a great example of what public investment in open digital infrastructure can look like. It strengthens the Fediverse, a real alternative to X. As I’ve argued in the #LeaveX campaign: we already have a viable social media alternative to X (1) and what we lack is sustained funding and political commitment. (2) Thus, if more EU countries invested in improving Mastodon, how quickly could it become Europe’s de facto public square? While most European politicians still prefer X for their official communication, reducing technical barriers could attract a more diverse audience, including the people our representatives want to reach, like journalists and the general public. By the way, it's interesting, though not surprising, that the Sovereign Tech Agency has almost four times as many followers on Mastodon as on Bluesky. It would be great to see them highlighting posts and profiles of some awesome open-source projects active on the Fediverse. 😉 #Mastodon #Fediverse #Bluesky #SocialMedia #EU #OpenSource

Federated (Micro)-Blogging: Alternatives for Twitter/X https://writefreely.nube-gran.de/federated-micro-blogging-alternatives-for-twitter-x #FederatedSocialMedia #Microblogging #Mastodon #Bluesky #Lemmy #WriteFreely #Fediverse #OpenSource #FOSS #ScientificCommunity #Privacy #SelfHosting #DataExport #CommunityDriven #SocialMediaAlternatives

Europe is starting to think seriously about its own social web. Not just platforms — but infrastructure, governance, and independence. https://fund.eurosky.tech/ #EU #DigitalSovereignty #Fediverse @eurosky.social @sebastian.eurosky.social

🧐 Keeping an eye on #tech giants because #PrivacyMatters “How Big Tech wrote secrecy into EU law to hide data centres' environmental toll https://www. investigate-europe.eu/posts/bi g-tech-data-centres-secrecy-eu-law-environment-footprint # HackerNews # BigTech #...” https://mastodon.social/@h4ckernews/116420382075089792 🤖 via RSS feed. Not an endorsement.

Big news for the fediverse: Mastodon is set to get end-to-end encrypted private messages, backed by Sovereign Tech Fund support. Private messages should actually be private, especially on decentralised platforms. Could stronger privacy help bring more people to the fediverse? www.privacyguides.org/news/2026/04/15/mastodon-to-get-e2ee-for-private-messages-thanks-to-sovereign-tech-fund/ #Mastodon #Fediverse #Privacy #E2EE #OpenSource

@axbom I have high trust in the #OpenSource community, so much good is brewing there. Things that are maturing and becoming all the more useful in everyday life for everyone. Boosted by that here in Europe funding is improving, as well as other resources needed - including from EU and a growing number of European countries. Though much of this is going on somewhat invisible from the public arena and traditional media, where focus is mainly on all the crap commercial and other bad actors do.

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

Which are some good socially and technologically progressive #Fediverse instances for people to join as of 2026? (Please boost if you think your friends might know. Thanks!)

Mastodon, I need your help! As more European countries and orgs look to ditch US technology and move to sovereign or open source alternatives, I'm trying to track these efforts. So far, I've found more than half a dozen government agencies, cities, orgs, that are embracing digital sovereignty but want to hear about other examples that I've missed. Who else should I be adding to this? Here's a list of what I have so far: *Edit: This list is now on Proton Sheets, as I should have seen that coming* docs.proton.me/sheet?mode=open-url&token=EG60KWHEDG&linkId=JnZzdChtiOV5FlG3GkJNcuUXn55S6jH59La_pFtdHaC-A0Fu0I5v4vbOrD6zTZUa-x6JD-qG-C7AGIhus3pnhw%3D%3D#7P2AL5m6PPzT #digitalsovereignty #opensource #europe #tech

"For years, a handful of Big Tech companies have used their power to gain control of the UK’s digital infrastructure, locking the government into wasteful contracts and shaping tech policy in their favour." 🗣️ ORG's @jim on our new report calling for UK Digital Sovereignty. Find out more ⬇️ www.itpro.com/infrastructure/uk-too-reliant-on-big-tech-needs-prioritise-digital-sovereignty-say-rights-organizers #DigitalSovereignty #opensource #bigtech #tech #ukpolitics #ukpol

The dominance of Big Tech in social media is itself a risk to democracy. Yet the government supports Big Tech monopolies with ad spending and content without publishing on the alternatives. They complain about Big Tech’s failures, while only giving users the opportunity to engage through Big Tech. #DigitalSovereignty #bigtech #tech #opensource #ukpolitics #ukpol

Digital dependence poses serious democratic risks. They include lobbying, interference in trade agreements, deregulation and producing e-waste. Governments become spellbound by techno-solutionism as vendors promote their way of doing things. This only leads to greater economic extraction. #DigitalSovereignty #bigtech #tech #opensource #ukpolitics #ukpol

Making ourselves dependent on Big Tech has been a fatal mistake. The Post Office scandal didn't come from nowhere. Outsourcing our systems to the exclusive product of a single provider means we're locked-in to using it and them. This leads to over-charging that costs in failure and extracts value. #DigitalSovereignty #bigtech #tech #opensource #ukpolitics #ukpol

The UK government has blanked the risks of US tech dependency for too long. Our digital infrastructure is a strategic asset. But that understanding is absent in how we hand out public sector contracts and allow UK tech sector sell-offs to foreign companies. We must shift the dial. Read more ⬇️ www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/the-case-for-digital-sovereignty-and-the-digital-commons/ #DigitalSovereignty #bigtech #tech #opensource #ukpolitics #ukpol

it is a bit ironical to recommend #Signal, a centralized American service that runs on #Amazon, #Google and #Microsoft services and depends heavily on them spending millions each year just to pay to Amazon and then in an #European context recommend that as "digital independence" Some people say it is a compromise, but the bar is way too low if you recommend Signal at the “digital independence day”. At this point It's about selling a feeling instead of actual accomplishment #Europe #digitalindependence #diday #did #autonomy #freedom #Sovereignty