@parataxis I mean as far as I can tell brands are welcome to run their own instances. It's just not cool to put your brand on an instance that's being run by someone as a side project. These servers are costing people actual money to run.
@Savagejen @parataxis Brands standing up their own instances is actually really great, because it resolves a principal-agent problem in media along with the free-rider problem you describe. It's a *weird* result of social media's explosion that some people genuinely do want to follow brands, but okay, let's roll with that. Federation means they can.
Personally, I can't wait to see what Taco Bell does with Mastadon.
@maradydd Not yet. I assume their corporate heads are trying to figure out what their social media folks will do with even LESS of a leash.
@Phancypants are they legit here?