European Alternatives to X (Twitter)
Microblogging platform acquired by Elon Musk in 2022. Allows publishing short messages, following personalities and participating in discussions.
X (Twitter) Features
- Short messages (posts)
- Retweets and quotes
- Hashtags and trends
- Spaces (live audio)
- Paid verified badge
- Recommendation algorithm
- Grok (integrated AI)
Price: Free / Premium at 8€/month / Premium+ at 16€/month
Why leave X (Twitter)?
- X used data from over 60 million European users to train its Grok AI without their consent
- 9 GDPR complaints filed by noyb in 8 European countries for illegal use of personal data
- 120 million euro fine from the European Commission for DSA violations: deceptive design and lack of transparency
- Paris prosecutors investigation for sexual deepfakes generated by Grok and child abuse images
- The AI training opt-out option was enabled by default without notifying users
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 : 40/100
- GDPR : 95/100
- Features : 80/100
- Overall Score : 75/100
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 the natural alternative to X for microblogging. Same format of short posts, hashtags and interactions, but without manipulation algorithm or use of your data for AI. German decentralized network guaranteeing your data sovereignty.
Switch from X (Twitter) to Mastodon
Strengths
- No manipulation algorithm or advertising
- Your data is never used to train AI
- Decentralized data outside CLOUD Act
- Open source and community controlled
- No paid verified badge (pay-to-play)
- Chronological feed by default
Weaknesses
- Smaller user base
- No Spaces (live audio)
- No creator monetization
- Manual rebuild of follower network
All Alternatives
- Mastodon (DE) — Score : 75/100 (Recommended)