The Federal Chancellery says goodbye to Mastodon
After a one-year pilot program, the Federal Chancellery is once again leaving the social media platform Mastodon. The conditions for continuing its use are not in place. The Federal Council and the Federal Administration have gained many more followers on platforms such as X and Instagram.
This was announced by the Federal Chancellery on Wednesday. Mastodon has some attractive features for government communication, it writes. Thanks to its decentralized organization, the platform is not controlled by a company or state censorship authorities. Furthermore, its source code is publicly accessible, it is privacy-friendly and is not driven by algorithms.
Nevertheless, success was limited. Three departments operated five accounts on the so-called "Social.admin.ch" instance. The Federal Chancellery also had an account for the entire Federal Council. All six accounts together only reached around 3500 followers. The conditions for continuation were therefore not met.
"On platforms such as X or Instagram, the Federal Council and Federal Administration reach many more followers with comparable accounts," writes the Federal Chancellery. In addition, the posts on Mastodon had led to few interactions such as likes, shares or comments. The activities on Mastodon will be discontinued with immediate effect. The "Social.admin.ch" instance will be closed at the end of the month. (SDA)
