Mastodon recently incorporated a 501c3 Non-Profit in the United States, and brought on a Board of Directors to assist in shaping and coordinating this new entity. This has been broadly seen as a big step for the project, but the Board selection is not without controversy and backlash.

Me, feeding 2 people and 2 cats on a 60k EUR salary without benefits (because technically self-employed), reading those comments that claim a 501(c)(3) is some kind of nefarious scheme to hide money ?

— Eugen Rochko (@Gargron) 2024-04-27T20:12:34.620Z

The inclusion of two members, Amir Ghavi and Biz Stone, raise questions about whether their backgrounds are good fits for the largest Fediverse project on the network today. Some parts of the community have alleged that these two people have a closer proximity to VC Funding, Tech Startups, and Crypto than the rest of the board members.

So, we’ve decided to dig in and investigate. Who are all of these people? What do they do? And how might their insights affect the board of Mastodon’s US entity?

About Mastodon’s Board

Before we get into the individual members, it’s important to understand the purpose and role this board serves: advocacy and fundraising for Mastodon in the United States. This board does not make decisions for Mastodon GmbH, which retains executive control of the project. Instead, their role is dedicated to the day-to-day operations of the 501c3 Non-Profit.

Esra’a Al Shafei

Esra’a Al Shafei is the founder and executive director of Majal.org, a collaboration network focused on social justice in the Middle East and Northern Africa. It boasts an impressive history, with over a decade of projects dedicated to everything from Human Rights Campaigns dedicated to immigrants, women, and ethnic and religious minorities, to distribution networks for podcasts, blogs, and media across the region.

Honestly, the amount of incredible work Majal has done is jaw-dropping. Many of these efforts embrace crowdsourced media, open content, and amplifying the reach of unheard voices. In addition to being a Senior TED Fellow, Esra’a also serves as an executive board member for both Wikimedia and the Tor Project.

Karien Bezuidenhout

Karien Bezuidenhout is the former director of The Shuttleworth Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by Mark Shuttleworth in 2001, designed to fund big idea projects and providing mentorship. Past projects have included on-demand book printing, measuring environmental impact, activism for Internet policy, connecting prisoners with family and support networks, making privacy technology easy to use, and much, much more.

Karien is also a founding partner of Philanthropy Matters, a consultancy designed to help people and organizations navigate philanthropy and achieve their goals. They have worked with over 75 different partners to help bring their work to fruition.

Felix Hlatky

Felix Hlatky is the CFO of Mastodon Social, so his inclusion on the board makes a lot of sense. He’s been in the role since 2020, and was in various finance leadership positions at other organizations in the past, such as SumUp, Crate.io, and ARGO Trade Solutions. Felix is also currently the Managing Director at blaulictSMS, an emergency services communications platform operated by Solarys GmbH.

Amir Ghavi

Amir Ghavi is a New York-based attorney under the employ of a corporate legal firm, Fried Frank. In May 2023, a Patreon update from the Mastodon project called out Amir and his team specifically. Amir and several colleagues helped out Mastodon on navigating a bunch of complicated legal inquiries for free.

As a lawyer, Mr. Ghavi comprises part of the legal team representing Stability AI, and has advised a number of companies through the process of acquiring other businesses. He speaks frequently about regulation of AI, particularly when it comes to generative models, deepfakes, legal ownership, and consent.

Mr. Ghavi is enthusiastic about crypto and blockchain technology, and regularly talks about Web3. One of his positions at Fried Frank is within the Blockchain and Digital Assets group, which advises clients on legal compliance, tax strategy, investments, and intellectual property.

Biz Stone

Biz Stone is most well-known as the co-founder (and patent co-owner) of Twitter, but holds investments and board seats across companies such as Block (formerly Square), Slack (acq. by Salesforce), Nest (acq. by Google), and Pinterest. Stone also co-founded Medium – the blogging network – and Jelly – a Q&A and search app that was acquired by Pinterest in 2017. He was the Creative Director of Xanga – another blogging network – and Odeo – a podcast creator suite. He even worked on Google’s Blogger.

Stone has been close to the tech startup world for a long time now, and has experience in VC Funds and Angel Investors. Additionally, he funded crypto social networks like Tagg and Syndicate, and is on the board of the AI Foundation.

On a surface level, some of these things can be an ick factor for the Fediverse. One thing worth considering here is that Mr. Stone has extensive experience in the development and cultivation of online communities and social networks, with a track record going back over 25 years. From the beginning, he’s seen how small decisions can have a greater ripple effect and affect the larger network.

In Conclusion

The board member’s of Mastodon’s new entity come from all walks of life: philanthropy, activism, legal, finance, and social technologies. These people have vast amounts of knowledge and experience over a wide array of topics, and can help steer the new entity into a healthy place.

Some parts of the Mastodon community are hostile towards VC Funding, AI, and cryptocurrency, particularly because of their entanglement with enshittification and hype cycles. These people are worried that this relationship will lead Mastodon down an unhealthy path that prioritizes the wrong things. It’s a totally understandable concern, but it’s important to remember the mission and purpose of Mastodon’s US entity: to manage and raise donations in the United States.

This is not an executive department making decisions for the Mastodon project, and they aren’t shareholders expecting to make some kind of financial returns. A healthy board requires a diverse set of opinions and experiences that educate the real decision-makers so they can get multiple perspectives on problems they need to solve. It seems like this board’s variety of backgrounds has been set up to do exactly that.

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