Europe's anti-Elon

About this episode

The episode features an interview with Eugen Rochko discussing Mastodon and the future of ethical online communities.

Back when Elon Musk was challenging Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight, Eugen Rochko was building an open-source, non-problematic Twitter alternative, completely without fanfare. Last year, the Mastodon founder announced his departure from the head of the social media platform in a candid blog post , citing a growing discomfort with the role and an interest in preserving the site’s decentralised values. But Mastodon lives on, and – full disclosure – we’re all for it. This week, we spoke to Eugen about his dreams for the “fediverse” and about whether his vision for ethical, supervillain-free online communities has a promising future. In fact, we enjoyed the conversation so much that we’re releasing a longer version for supporters of the podcast . Also in this episode: a compromise in Europe’s War on Veggie Burgers and the end of the decade-long Iceland-the-country-versus-Iceland-the-grocery-store dispute. Resources for this episode: “‘Veggie burgers’ are here to stay. Lab-grown ‘steaks’ never will be.” – Politico, 5 March 2026 “European consumer insights on the alternative protein sector” – The Good Food Institute Europe, 25 November 2025 Eugen on Mastodon “My next chapter with…

People in this episode

Hosts: Katy Lee, Dominic Kraemer

Guest: Eugen Rochko

Topics covered

• social media
• decentralization
• ethical online communities
• veggie burgers
• Iceland dispute

Keywords

• Mastodon
• Eugen Rochko
• social media
• decentralization
• veggie burgers
• Iceland dispute
• fediverse

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Mastodon, Politico, The Good Food Institute Europe, The New York Times

Products: Drops of God, Nearby Glasses

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