Today we're sharing the first in a series of three posts from our leadership team, starting with @mellifluousbox discussing our mission, and priorities for 2026.

@iju @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

looking at the emoji in aria's profile, not knowing if they are trans, but if they are i understand why they feel threatened by id checks

if i were trans i would feel intensely threatened, physically, mortally, by id checks

especially in countries like my like stupid fucking country (the usa)

at the same time:

if i *really* cared about id checks, i wouldn't be attacking the wrong entity

aria's heart is in the right place but their brain is AWOL

@benroyce @iju @Mastodon @mellifluousbox my point is when a fascist orders you do a fascist thing and you do as you're told, you're a moral failure.

@ariarhythmic @starlily

so disobey

run a server

do not abide by id checks

then the govt shows up

now you are REALLY identified to the authorities

aria:

if you are trans (just going off the emoji in your profile), i understand why id checks are threatening to you. physically. mortally even

your heart is in the right place

but your brain is completely missing!

go after your government!

@benroyce @starlily Why can't we *both* go after the governments and refuse to obey in advance?

@ariarhythmic @iju @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

aria:

go

run a server

don't comply with id checks

watch what happens

nobody is standing in your way

do it

but might i suggest you vote, organize, and agitate to fight id laws?

if you really cared?

do you think walking up to a fascist and asking to be shot is effective resistance?

@ariarhythmic @starlily

because it's tactically moronic

you're not asking for resistance, you're demanding admins stand up and ask fascists to shoot them

this is not brave, this is not strong, it's fucking stupid

in resistance you think *strategy* and *tactics* because you want to be *effective*

right?

do you think grandstanding on social media with cringe foolish ineffective demands is anything remotely like that?

@benroyce @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

Yeah, I noticed the emoji, and I do understand they're problably really raw about the developments of the past few years. Particularly if they're in the States.

Opposing fascism is really healthy! I'm just concerned that jumping the gun with the GmbH leads to being ignored when sensible applications of age-checks (and what happens if you don't participate) are done.

This seems paramount.

@benroyce @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

Taking the hard-line with fascism is healthy, but pushing others to any course of action without knowing the cost to them seems non-strategic. (In this case: turning GmbH into latter-day Pirate Bay.)

No one battle will defeat fascism, but not fighting isn't the answer either. To push the allegory to the breaking point, we want sabotage and raiding, not cause a Verdun that will consume our future as surely as fascism will..

@ariarhythmic @benroyce @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

True, but have you considered that there are more ways to oppose fascist orders than just not applying them?

It's often much safer and/or profitable to implement a solution that follows the letter of the order and not the spirit.

Particularly in a situation like this where the order of implementation doesn't come from the fascists, or even (I think it's safe to say) collaborators.

@iju @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox

i have a better idea:

do what valve does

you need a credit card

they run a $0 authorization

*no id docs needed*

the server doesn't deal with sensitive data

even better:

now your cc is attached to your mastodon profile

your cc is right there for donating to the server later

as more people should be doing

snag:

germany doesn't consider a cc legally acceptable

but other jurisdictions do

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/08/steam-uk-users-will-now-need-a-credit-card-to-access-mature-content-due-to-the-online-safety-act/

@Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron

@benroyce @iju @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox @Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron i think they are discussing that they may have to perform verification on their own servers: mastodon.social. I don’t think they can enforce verification on other servers.

@Mastodon @mellifluousbox Mastodon could aspire to replace X in Europe (given the current situation in the U.S. and the state of X). It is urgent that it include translation capabilities for this multilingual region

@meowki @benroyce @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox @Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron

Just so.

Also worth noting that some countries (at least my own) are enabling age-verification because you can't trust algorithms to show stuff people want/should see. If this is taken into account in the legistlation (which is still being written), then it wouldn't even apply to Mastodon.

Similar use-cases are probably found in other EU-countries, if not in Germany?

@meowki @iju @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox @Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron

My understanding is that they will be making the software updates available to other servers that are also forced to comply or get shut down. Is my understanding wrong? It could be

@benroyce @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic

1. Mastodon's code already includes a setting which server admins can enable to set a minimum age for their server, which will ask for a date of birth to be entered during sign-up. The date of birth is not stored, only checked once. This has been part of Mastodon's code since multiple months now: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/34150

2. What they say in the blog is that they will audit the GmbH's own servers, which probably includes an audit of this feature.

3. The interesting stuff is what that "working group" will come up with.

@nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic

thank you

you educated me

{hat tip}

@nitrml @benroyce @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic Age verification won't, of course, stop someone from setting up their own server.

... which, at least regarding the federation choices this little node will be making... Is enough of its own age-gating process that we will welcome all nodes regardless of age of their admins.

@mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic

which is great of you, thank you

...and your stance is dependent upon the legalities of your jurisdiction

so people who do enable the age verification are not assholes, they just don't want their govt coming after them

and your own govt may change its mind, then you have to think about it

the problem is govt

not mastodon admins

@benroyce @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic All of this is very good insight.

@benroyce @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox @Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron

I for one will not remain on any server that asks for ID, treating such a thing as being a shutdown.If I have to move everything to the darknet I can and I will.

Single-user Mastodon servers hosted at home could make age verification useless.Torified federation if supoortes could prevent ISP blocking, as can mesh networking in built-up areas.

Even if this goes all the way to shuting down things like Signal, Matrix and other decentralozed altetnatives will be very hard to shut down.

Then there is Diaspora: I don't know a whole lot about it but it's supposed to work like Facebook UI wise but with distributee hosting on the backend