Current status: fuming with rage at the SHEER INEPTITUDE of the French press in covering W Social and Mastodon.

nickbergencomputerquest@mastodon.social

In November 2025, Eugen Rochko stepped down as Mastodon CEO, and he transferred the trademark and assets to Mastodon. He did NOT cancel his account or any instances. It’s still there. The “journalist” could have check.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/11/my-next-chapter-with-mastodon

In January 2026, he opted his Mastodon account out of the Bluesky bridge. This was supposedly because of the user behavior at Bsky. But I cannot find a direct statement about him leaving because of users.
https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/115912977448929626

_elena@mastodon.social

@benroyce worth mentioning your Neil Postman connection too Ben for the extra cred

The LinkedIn profile of that French journalist is really alarming because he's been a teacher of journalism at La Sorbonne and has published several books on tech. He's a radio producer and host. It's shocking that he would share such blatant lies. Shocking I tell you!

He even has a Wikipedia page: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Saltiel

@NatureMC @aaronmccollum @laxsill

_elena@mastodon.social

@NickBergenComputerQuest you can't "find a direct statement about him leaving because of users" because it's a complete fabrication by that so-called journalist / radio host.

I repeat, a complete fabrication. And my jaw is still on the floor.

Thank you @imacrea for bringing to our attention that shocking paragraph

nickbergencomputerquest@mastodon.social

@_elena @imacrea Well, that makes sense why it’s a little tough to find then. Which LLM hallucinated that, when it was writing their story.

These people give journalists such a bad name. But by the time you dig into the misinformation, they have 10 more stories up.

benroyce@mastodon.social

@_elena @NatureMC @aaronmccollum @laxsill

Yup. NYU Media Ecology track Master of Arts grad here, Neil Postman was my thesis advisor

(now called the Media, Culture, and Communication dept, I'm old)

and François Saltiel needs to learn a little thing called integrity

laxsill@social.spejset.org

@benroyce @NatureMC @aaronmccollum @_elena i love print media, I've been on the board of several small ones and written for a bunch, but that only makes me more critical when they fuck up

_elena@mastodon.social

Update: Radio France removed the last paragraph in the piece that claimed " @Gargron had quit his own social network [Mastodon] because he was fed up the behavior of certain users."

But this preposterous lie is still in their radio broadcast. The clip has been up for 10 HOURS now.

Maybe @Mastodon could use this as leverage to set the record straight and get some exposure with French listeners.

I'm this close to getting my LinkedIn account out of hibernation to write to Radio France about it

defred@social.bim.land

@_elena @Gargron @Mastodon don't trust french public radio

nhoizey@mamot.fr

@_elena there is already some discussion on LinkedIn: https://mastodon.social/@STPo/115978637442407795

@Gargron @Mastodon

phillycodehound@indieweb.social

@_elena @Gargron @Mastodon That's insane. You should!

tk@social.apreslanu.it

@_elena @gargron @Mastodon there is a right call "droit de réponse" that forces media to publish (but not necessarily broadcast) additional facts or versions. also the convention is to ask for comment on quotes and facts and precise the person didn't answer at time of publication (and courtesy is to let a reasonable amount of time for the person to answer).

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_de_r%C3%A9ponse

tk@social.apreslanu.it

@_elena @gargron @Mastodon I checked with a journalist next to me and they have to broadcast the "droit de réponse" at the same scale as the initial message, like at the end of the next podcast. I don't know if it was aired.

64bithero@mstdn.games

@_elena @Gargron @Mastodon no no no @Gargron and John Mastodon have been have a quarrel for years. Something about John kept eating all of the sandwiches in the fridge despite the fact @Gargron put him name on them.

He just stopped putting his food on the Mastodon office fridge because of certain behaviors.

That story always gets twisted in its re-telling

miguelpergamon@kolektiva.social

@_elena @Gargron

This would have been the kind of story covered by "the Media Show" on BBCRadio4 when it wasn't just celebrity gossip and in-house promotion but the acknowledgement of the existence of the fediverse and activity protocols by the BBC is extremely low. They (presenters) mention TruthSocial, BlueSky and Threads a lot more than Mastodon or the tech that they are based on.

sunnythesheep@mastodon.social

@_elena also, I noticed #Monnet advertised #WSocial (proposing itself as an alternative to Instagram and WSocial as an 'european' alternative to X)

@Gargron @Mastodon

david@setouchi.social

@_elena @Gargron Ineptitude or ill-intent. Hard to tell. The French press has a history of not caring about facts if it fits their narrative when talking about something they consider fringe (and there will be no consequence to their slander).
Or... Some people in the French government have a vested interest in the success of W social (either monetary or for good PR) and they're undermining what they see as its main competition. ️

david@setouchi.social

@_elena @Gargron We have to expect a lot of media promoting WSocial in the next weeks and months. And that will include a lot of negative mentions of Mastodon, I'm afraid.

Abspeckgeflüster – Forum für Menschen mit Gewicht(ung)

Current status: fuming with rage at the SHEER INEPTITUDE of the French press in covering W Social and Mastodon.