Mastodon: Know everything about the platform hailed as Twitter alternative

Before Musk completed the Twitter acquisition on Oct. 27, Mastodon's growth averaged 60-80 new users an hour, according to the widely-cited Mastodon Users account

With Twitter in disarray since the world's richest person took control of it last week, Mastodon, a decentralised, open alternative from privacy-obsessed Germany, has seen a flood of new users.
 

"The bird is free," tweeted Tesla mogul Elon Musk when he completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. But many free-speech advocates reacted with dismay to the prospect of the world's "town square" being controlled by one person and started looking for other options.
 

For the most part, Mastodon - named after an extinct breed of mammoth - looks like Twitter, with hashtags, political back-and-forth and tech banter jostling for