Many people in Europe see the open social web as a path to digital sovereignty. This week demonstrated a problem: the assumption that European governments actually want to be sovereign.

This week, the Catholic Church wrote one of the better diagnoses of why decentralised social networks keep struggling.

On the convergence towards private data on social networking protocols, and the connection to Matrix

The European Commission has decided not to extend the Digital Markets Act's interoperability rules to social media, closing off a potential pathway for adoption for open social networks.

A quick reminder that NLnet has an Open Social Fund specifically for projects that implement ActivityPub. They make grants of 5000 to 50000 euros. Their next proposal deadline is June 1, 2026. The proposal process requires just a few hours of work. It's definitely worth the time to get into this important program!

How the conferences FediForum and 2mr.social this week show how fediverse is trying to build connections with European politics, as well as with the atmosphere.

What the Russmedia ruling means for ActivityPub and atproto.

Europe’s digital independence is growing slowly and still requires attention. – Gemeinfrei-ähnlich freigegeben durch unsplash.com: Sushobhan BadhaiWhile Brussels talks up digital sovereignty, funding for the projects that would make it a reality remains uncertain. Michiel Leenaars of the Dutch NLnet Foundation offers insights into his work supporting alternatives and what he expects from the EU.

Europas digitale Unabhängigkeit wächst langsam und braucht weiterhin Zuwendung. – Gemeinfrei-ähnlich freigegeben durch unsplash.com: Sushobhan BadhaiWährend in Brüssel viel von digitaler Souveränität gesprochen wird, bleibt die Finanzierung der Projekte, die diese verwirklichen sollen, ungewiss. Michiel Leenaars von der niederländischen NLnet Foundation gibt Einblicke in seine Arbeit zur…

What makes a social network resilient?

Mastodon has received a 600k grant by the Sovereign Tech Agency, and Surf has launched.

On AI and place, and how Mastodon gives tools to create communities at the instance level, but people experience 'place' at the federation level.

Open social protocols are expanding beyond social media into the infrastructure developers use to build, distribute, and discover software. Three recent launches show what that looks like in practice.

On Mastodon's new Share button, and protocol ownership.

A big grab bag of news, that ties into the question of 'Where Does Community Live?'

ActivityPub and ATProto both promise to rebuild social life online, but they answer the question of where community actually forms in fundamentally different ways. Protocol design is institutional design, and right now those institutions are being built.

With Discord announcing age verification globally, people are searching for alternatives. But a Discord alternative on the open social web might just look structurally quite different.

On the tension in the DSA, that needs Big Tech platforms to exist so it can regulate them, while the fediverse does away with large platforms altogether.

The conditions that made 'leaving Twitter' a meaningful part of the open social web's identity don't exist for TikTok. What happens when people can't see each other leave?

Bluesky built a verification system designed to distribute trust, and then didn't use it when it mattered.

On the complexities of protocol governance.

Fediverse Report #148: X is not a just platform problem anymore, it's a power problem, and why you cannot compete as platforms with power.

Threads' fediverse integration is on maintenance mode, signalling the end to a tumultuous story and period for the fediverse.

PeerTube releases their new annual software version update, and more on Bonfire.

The European Commission put a 120M EUR fine on X for DSA violations. But as the European politicians cannot get themselves to leave the platform, it shows the issues with how they understand how power works on social platforms.

Holos is a new project to run an ActivityPub server on your mobile phone, more on Thread's user statistics, and an interview with Mastodon's creator Eugen Rochko.

Newsmast launches news app that combines local news with fediverse integration, and the first Brazilian fediverse conference with WebSocialBR

Mastodon has a new CEO as Eugen Rochko steps down.

Some updates on Bonfire, and some questions on whether communities are still starting new servers. Mastodon shares some of the upcoming features they are working on.

Fediverse community platform Bonfire launches, together with a crowdfunding campaign. Mastodon now officially quote posts, and a fediverse client for the Media Liberation Day campaign.