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Twitter/X vs Mastodon: Which Secures Business Messaging?

Explore how US-based Twitter/X and EU's Mastodon compare on business security, with Mastodon offering decentralized control. Discover the safer choice today.

Last updated: February 19, 2026Reviewed by Built in EU Team

Should You Switch to Mastodon?

What You Gain

Enhanced privacy, decentralized control, no Cloud Act risk

Privacy advantage
Trade-offs

Less feature-rich, smaller user base, fewer real-time trends

Twitter/X has more features
Bottom Line

Switch for privacy and decentralization; stay for features and reach

At a Glance

Data Location
🇺🇸US

US data laws

🇪🇺EU

GDPR protected

Pricing

Twitter/X

Contact

Mastodon

free

Migration
Medium difficulty~1-2 hours

Privacy & Compliance Comparison

Critical data sovereignty factors at a glance

CriteriaTwitter/XMastodon
Server Location
US (Primary), EU (Optional)EU (Varies by instance)
GDPR Compliance
Partial (SCCs)Full
Open Source
E2E Encryption
OptionalOptional
Data Portability
PartialFull export

CLOUD Act Notice

Twitter/X is a US company and must comply with CLOUD Act data requests, even for data stored in EU data centers. Mastodon is not subject to US jurisdiction.

Switching from
Twitter/X logo

Twitter/X

🇺🇸

X Corp

VS
Switching to
Mastodon logo

Mastodon

🇪🇺

US Data Storage

Data subject to US CLOUD Act and may be accessed by US authorities

EU Data Protection

Data protected under GDPR with EU-only data residency

Certifications & Compliance

No certifications listed

Open Source
Self-Hostable
EU-hosted

Reasons to Switch

  • No ads; user-funded instances reduce noise
  • Decentralized; choose servers with specific rules
  • GDPR compliance; strong EU data protection
  • Open-source; community-driven improvements

Things to Consider

  • !Migration; manual follower and content transfer
  • !Learning curve; unfamiliar federated model
  • !Feature gaps; lacks trending topics and polls
Migration difficulty:
Medium
~1-2 hours

Migration Overview

Full guide
Difficulty
Medium
Time Estimate
~1-2 hours

Depends on data size and complexity

Quick Steps

1

Create Mastodon account and configure settings

2

Export and prepare data from Twitter/X

3

Import data, test integrations, and migrate users

Other alternatives to Twitter/X

Ready to make the switch?

Start using Mastodon today and take control of your data privacy.