Online Safety Act and Toot.sh

For the past couple of years I've been running my own mastodon instance, toot.sh. The instance has been mostly just for me, but it does have a few other active users. Being that I'm from the UK, it feels only fair that I talk a little about how the UK's Online Safety Act impacts the service.

What is the Online Safety Act (OSA)?

I'm not going to attempt to explain or interpet the OSA for several reasons. The main one being, I am not trained or qualified to do so. For a brief overview, and some interpretation I'd recommend checking out https://onlinesafetyact.co.uk/ by Neil Brown.

My view is that this legislation is exceptionally flawed, and that Ofcoms implementation thus far has been less than inclusive.

Does toot.sh fall in-scope of the OSA?

My interpretation so far, seems to suggest that single user instances are out-of-scope, but multi-user instances would be in-scope for OSA. This would mean, that toot.sh as a multi-user instance with users in the UK (myself), it would fall in-scope of the requirements and liabilities.

For a resident of another country, it may be possible and reasonable to assume that the consequence of ignoring the legislation would never reach you. But as a UK citizen and resident, this simply isn't an option for me.

So with that, I have to assume that toot.sh, the mastodon mutli-user instance does fall in-scope of OSA. As such, that I do hold the risk for any potential breaches, which could be in the in the 10's of millions of pounds.

What does this mean for toot.sh?

This level of personal liability is, clearly, far beyond reason for me to take on. So, unfortunately the only sensible path I can forsee is to bring toot.sh to a close.

On the 16th March 2025, I will be "freezing" all accounts on toot.sh. This will preserve any posts and profiles, but will make it impossible for users to post, follow, or do much of anything else on toot.sh.

Before this date, I would recommend migrating your profile to another instance. Fedi.tips has an excellent guide and explainer on this process! Please ensure you complete the "Move To A Different Account" stage, as this will allow your followers to be automatically transferred for your followers by their instances. You may also wish to take an export of your data.

If you do not migrate before this date, you will need to email me and I will unfreeze your account temporarily so you can perform the move.

On the 16th April 2025, I will be "suspending" all accounts on toot.sh, this will begin the process of data deletion. After this date, it will no longer be possible to do a migration, and I will not be able to reverse this process. The data will be wiped entirely from toot.sh, and I will also begin purging user data from the backups.

It is my hope that this will provide ample time for everyone to find a new instance, and make the transition. Given the number of users on toot.sh is in the single digits, I'm of course very happy to work with anyone who needs additional help or a little extra time - within reason.

Final notes

It's very disappointing that it's has come to this, and even more disappointing that it's a result of legislation in my own country. For the fw of you who are users of toot.sh, I'm sorry it's come to this, and I hope you understand the decision I've had to make.