Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle for Democratic Social Media

Move Slowly and Build Bridges tells the story of activists, software developers, artists, and everyday people who have built the fediverse — a large, noncentralized, alternative social media system. In contrast to big tech corporations like Meta, TikTok, or X, the fediverse is comprised of thousands of small, independent communities who use a powerful internet protocol to communicate with one another. These small communities can govern themselves and moderate content at the human scale — in...