European Alternatives to Facebook
Meta's social network with over 3 billion users. Allows sharing posts, photos, videos and joining groups and communities.
Facebook Features
- Posts, photos and videos
- Groups and communities
- Marketplace
- Integrated Messenger
- Events
- Targeted advertising based on your data
- News feed algorithm
Price: Free (advertising-funded)
Why leave Facebook?
- Record GDPR fine of 1.2 billion euros for illegal transfer of European personal data to the United States (May 2023)
- 91 million euro fine for storing user passwords in plaintext on its servers (October 2024)
- Meta is subject to the US CLOUD Act: US authorities can demand access to European user data
- Massive data collection via tracking pixels present on millions of external websites, even for non-users
- Uses user posts and photos to train its artificial intelligence models
Recommended : Mastodon
Decentralized and open source social network developed in Germany. Part of the fediverse and uses the ActivityPub protocol for federation between servers.
Country : DE
Compatibility Scores
- Migration : 30/100
- GDPR : 95/100
- Features : 70/100
- Overall Score : 69/100
Mastodon Features
- Decentralized network (fediverse)
- Chronological feed without algorithm
- No ads or tracking
- Open source code
- iOS and Android apps
- Federation via ActivityPub
- Server choice and portability
Price: Free (open source software)
Why this choice?
Mastodon is our recommendation for leaving Facebook thanks to its decentralized model that guarantees your data sovereignty. Hosted on European infrastructure (Hetzner), without ads or tracking, it's the most privacy-respecting alternative for a generalist social network.
Switch from Facebook to Mastodon
Strengths
- No tracking or targeted advertising (vs Meta surveillance advertising)
- Data hosted in Europe outside CLOUD Act
- Chronological feed without manipulation algorithm
- Open source and decentralized (no centralized control)
- Server choice and full account portability
Weaknesses
- Much smaller user base
- No Marketplace or e-commerce features
- No direct import of Facebook contacts/posts
- Less developed groups and communities
All Alternatives
- Mastodon (DE) — Score : 69/100 (Recommended)