"The same factors are at play at the server layer. Since both Mastodon and the larger #Fediverse are decentralized, they are open ecosystems, in which anyone can set up and maintain a node: a server running a Mastodon instance, federated through the #ActivityPub protocol with the rest of the Fediverse. Over the last two weeks the number of instances grew proportionally more quickly than the number of users, showing that the model can sustainably scale. At the same time, many servers had to limit or stop accepting users, as either the technical infrastructure or their finances broke.

But servers are more than just ways to distribute load. Servers are also nodes that control information flows, through content blocking decisions. Unlike on the world wide web, federation does not mean full interconnection. The Fediverse is, by design, fractured by server-level decisions that block and cancel access to other parts of the network. Users can also make such decisions at individual level, but at the scale of the network, it’s the servers that count."

https://techpolicy.press/priorities-to-make-the-fediverse-sustainable/