This is based on a drastic misunderstanding of what Mastodon is. It’s not a social media site like tumblr - it’s open-source code that allows anyone to create a social media site, which can then interact with other sites using that code. To say Mastodon has “lax regulations” is really misleading, because Mastodon itself has no regulations, it only has tools for moderators to regulate their own instances

Mastodon “allows” pedophiles in the same way that email “allows” identity theft scams. No, “email” doesn’t put a stop to identity theft, but “email” is just a set of protocols for sending messages - it’d be absurd to expect it to

Most Mastodon instances (including mastodon.social, the largest and oldest) do more to keep pedophiles off their platform than tumblr ever has, by having strict rules against it, banning any instances that don’t have strict rules against it, and actively moderating to enforce those rules. At that point it’s as if the pedophiles are on a different website entirely - because they literally are on a different domain



As someone who actually uses it, I can confirm that I’ve never had or even heard of a run-in with pedophiles. Admins know the instances that allow it and quickly block and spread the word about any new ones that pop up. Again, it’s been more of an issue for me on tumblr than it’s ever been on masto

Please reblog this. People love spreading this rumor without knowing what they’re talking about, and it’s driving people away from non-corporate, community-controlled, secure open-source social media. And that’s a real big shame

