What parents need to know about Mastodon, the federated social network where the choice of server (instance) shapes the entire safety experience.
อายุทางการ
16+
เราแนะนำ
16+
นักพัฒนา
Mastodon gGmbH and independent operators
ความเสี่ยง
4
Mastodon is the most widely used federated social network in the fediverse. Rather than one central service, thousands of independently run servers (instances) interoperate using the ActivityPub protocol. A child who signs up to a generalist instance like mastodon.social is bound by that instance's rules, but their feed can include posts from anyone on any other instance their server still federates with. Each instance sets its own minimum age, moderation policy, and content rules. The flagship mastodon.social instance currently sets a minimum age of 16, but other instances may allow 13+, 18+, or have no age check at all. There is no single parental supervision tool because there is no single platform to supervise.
Older teenagers use Mastodon for tech, art, queer, and academic communities, often as a quieter alternative to X. Many discover it through a friend's invite link to a specific instance. Some join hobby-themed instances - art, gaming, language learning, music - which can be tight-knit and well-moderated, while others end up on barely-moderated instances they found through a search or link. Conversation conventions differ sharply: on some instances, content warnings on every sensitive post are expected, while on others CW culture barely exists. Because the experience is shaped by the chosen instance, a child can move from a calm community to a hostile one simply by changing servers.
Choice of Instance
ตำแหน่ง: Sign-up screen -> Choose a server
ตั้งค่าเป็น: Well-moderated generalist instance with a published code of conduct
This is the single most important safety setting on Mastodon. Stick to instances on the Mastodon Server Covenant list for under-18s and avoid any instance that markets itself as 'free speech', 'uncensored', or '18+'.
Default Post Visibility
ตำแหน่ง: Preferences -> Other -> Posting privacy
ตั้งค่าเป็น: Followers only
Stops posts appearing on the public timeline of every federated instance. Replies inherit the parent post's visibility, so this is the simplest way to keep a teen's posts from spreading widely.
Discoverability
ตำแหน่ง: Preferences -> Public profile -> Suggest account to others
ตั้งค่าเป็น: Off
Prevents the account from being shown in Mastodon's account discovery and search features across instances.
Content Filters
ตำแหน่ง: Preferences -> Filters -> Add new filter
ตั้งค่าเป็น: Add keyword filters for adult or distressing topics
Manually filter posts containing specific keywords. There is no built-in adult-content toggle on Mastodon comparable to other platforms.
Direct Messages
ตำแหน่ง: When posting -> Visibility -> Direct
ตั้งค่าเป็น: Treat DMs as semi-public
Direct messages on Mastodon are not end-to-end encrypted. Instance administrators on both sides of the conversation can read them. Use only for non-sensitive exchanges.
Pick the instance together using the Mastodon Server Covenant list and read its code of conduct before signing up
เวลา: 20 minutes
Set default post visibility to 'Followers only' and turn off account suggestions before posting anything public
เวลา: 10 minutes
Explain content-warning culture and that DMs are not encrypted and can be read by instance administrators
เวลา: 10 minutes
Agree to talk before joining or moving to any new instance
เวลา: 5 minutes
ตรวจสอบล่าสุด: 2026-06-14
เนื้อหาต้นฉบับภาษาอังกฤษ: /apps/mastodon