Post #3030453
2026-03-09 17:08 UTC
Why "Delete" is complicated in the #Fediverse
Unlike X or Facebook where one company owns the only copy of your post, Mastodon and other Social Web apps use the #ActivityPub protocol.
When you post, your server (e.g. toot.wales) sends a copy to some number of servers (e.g. mastodon.social) - anywhere from one to 40,000 depending on a bunch of stuff.
When you delete, your server sends a Delete request to all those same servers.
Replies (3)
-
@jaz@toot.wales 2026-03-09 17:08
However, your server can't force the other 40,000 servers to actually erase the data. Most servers honour the request instantly, but if a server is offline, over-capacity, or malicious, that copy may stay on their hard drive, and visible online, indefinitely. In the decentralised world of the Social Web, "Delete" is a request, not a command.
-
@yadt@tech.lgbt 2026-03-09 18:29
@jaz@toot.wales "one company owns the only copy of your post" plenty of things scrape twitter/facebook
-
@mro@digitalcourage.social 2026-03-09 18:41
Hi @jaz@toot.wales, once published, it's public. Period. I am very much for a "best before end" expiry hint on /everything/. Hoarders may keep it anyway. It's on their pile of compost then.