Eugen Rochko, Mastodon’s founder and CEO, announced on Tuesday, November 18th, that he is stepping down from his current role with the organization:

After nearly 10 years, I am stepping down as the CEO of Mastodon and transferring my ownership of the trademark and other assets to the Mastodon non-profit. Over the course of my time at Mastodon, I have centered myself less and less in our outward communications, and to some degree, this is the culmination of that trend. Mastodon is bigger than me, and though the technology we develop on is itself decentralized—with heaps of alternative fediverse projects demonstrating that participation in this ecosystem is possible without our involvement—it benefits our community to ensure that the project itself which so many people have come to love and depend on remains true to its values. There are too many examples of founder egos sabotaging thriving communities, and while I’d like to think myself an exception, I understand why people would prefer better guardrails.

I’ve been on Mastodon since January 18, 2021, first as a member of the TWiT.social instance and then as a member of the official Mastodon.social instance.

Mastodon was the first federated social network that I joined and, while I still do post on other social networks, I like what Eugen and the folks at Mastodon have built and what the platform stands for.

While Eugen will be stepping away from the day-to-day CEO duties, he did say that he would be sticking around in an advisory role, so he won’t be totally removed from Mastodon. In any case, I wish him all the best!