Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka is under fire over allegations of power harassment, including telling one official he should kill himself by seppuku if he failed to achieve a specific target. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/16/japan/society/yokohama-mayor-harassment/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #society #yokohama #takeharuyamanaka #powerharassment #harassment #atsushikubota

@ricci

However, there are several Fediverse projects that offer such options. Hubzilla, (streams), forte, Bonfire. So there are ways to use the Fediverse with such options. Perhaps it is due to Mastodon's dominance that people are unaware of Fediverse projects that offer more privacy protection than Mastodon.

@stefan @ErickaSimone

#privacy #hubzilla #forte #(streams) #bonfire #harassment

Looking at the previous issue of Fediverse Report, which discusses Bonfire in more detail, I notice that Bonfire gives a ton of control over who can interact with posts, crucially including reply controls

I've seen a number of women and Black people on Fedi mention reply controls as a sorely-needed safety/anti-harassment feature, so I hope there can be some good public Bonfire servers soon

https://connectedplaces.online/reports/fediverse-report-141-2/

#Fediverse #Bonfire #Harassment #Moderation

Looking at the previous issue of Fediverse Report, which discusses Bonfire in more detail, I notice that Bonfire gives a ton of control over who can interact with posts, crucially including reply controls

I've seen a number of women and Black people on Fedi mention reply controls as a sorely-needed safety/anti-harassment feature, so I hope there can be some good public Bonfire servers soon

https://connectedplaces.online/reports/fediverse-report-141-2/

#Fediverse #Bonfire #Harassment #Moderation

#Sheinbaum — Mexico’s first woman president, elected earlier this year, stated in her public address:

“If this can happen to the President, imagine what #women go through every day.”

Her response has ignited a countrywide reckoning over #ViolenceAgainstWomen, one of Mexico’s most urgent crises.
The nation records 10 #femicides a day, according to #UNWomenMexico and thousands more cases of #harassment many of which go #unreported.

2/3

Just how far is now the subject of a national conversation—set off by the #SexualAssault Tues—about the #harassment, #abuse & #violence #women still face in #Mexico. Online, on TV & in their homes, women expressed indignation that not even the president was safe & resignation that nothing would ever change.

#ClaudiaSheinbaum herself said on Wednesday what many were wondering, asking, “If this can happen to the president, what’s going to happen to all the young women & women across our country?”

Just how far is now the subject of a national conversation—set off by the #SexualAssault Tues—about the #harassment, #abuse & #violence #women still face in #Mexico. Online, on TV & in their homes, women expressed indignation that not even the president was safe & resignation that nothing would ever change.

#ClaudiaSheinbaum herself said on Wednesday what many were wondering, asking, “If this can happen to the president, what’s going to happen to all the young women & women across our country?”

I've now witnessed second hand how #harassment and #CyberStalking works on the #Fediverse . The offender simply creates a new account on an open instance, and immediately replies one of the person being harassed. This account is then quickly reported and closed - but they simply create a new one.

What are the options for fighting this kind of harassment beyond the obvious "stop/block open instances"? How do admins deal with this kind of thing?

I've now witnessed second hand how #harassment and #CyberStalking works on the #Fediverse . The offender simply creates a new account on an open instance, and immediately replies one of the person being harassed. This account is then quickly reported and closed - but they simply create a new one.

What are the options for fighting this kind of harassment beyond the obvious "stop/block open instances"? How do admins deal with this kind of thing?

CC @staff and all other moderators of #mastodon servers who see this: Targeted harassment of our initiative (Gaza Verified) for trying to help Palestinians that are enduring genocide in Gaza.

This person has been chased off of nearly every server they have landed on. Please make sure yours doesn’t end up being the one that harbours them.

https://mstdn.jp/@Linux_Is_Best/115442846374150999

#fediblock #harassment #GazaVerified #Gaza #Palestine #israel #genocide

@bitsnpieces @mastodonmigration

i remember reading @mekkaokereke 's delineation of the #harassment of #black folk around a year ago

essentially using nonpublic #replyguy bullshit. other methods

you can say "well just block and move on"

but the reality is it is a degradation of your experience and enjoyment of #mastodon and drives you from the #fediverse

targeted harassment is not unique to mastodon

but it is a real, here. and we should care

it needs to be addressed with a beefier toolset

With the recent influx of newcomers from #Bluesky , it behooves us to contemplate what we can do to improve #moderation on the #Fediverse - something that has been a problem in the past, and is one of the major reasons why the Fediverse is not as big and as diverse as it could be.

The first and most important step is a cultural change - we need to be _aware_ of how harassment operates, _especially_ if we are not its target. Thus, everyone around here - admins most of all, but really everyone - needs to drill the following into their brains:

If you are not a member of a marginalized group, you are unlikely to ever see much of the #harassment they are experiencing. Heck, you might not even be able to recognize it as such! Thus, if members of said group talk about their experiences with harassment on the Fediverse, _take them at their word_ instead of reacting with disbelief or demands for explanation and elaboration.

It is this frequent reaction disbelief that has done more than anything else to harm the reputation of the Fediverse. Because let's face it, we are still a space that is overwhelmingly white and European/North American. If we want to change that - and it is my fervent belief that we should - then we need to take the lived experiences of others seriously.

Once we have accepted that we need to expand our understanding of how harassment on the Fediverse occurs, _then_ we can work out what tools are needed to improve the situation. Because I too often see the reaction:

"If someone experiences harassment on a large scale, they are not using the tools of the Fediverse correctly to prevent this."

This is blaming the victims of harassment for the problem, and not the Fediverse as a whole. And then we will have the same trainwreck as before, and the Fediverse will remain the same hobbyist's collective rather than the serious challenge to commercial social media platforms it should be if we ever want to stop the world's plunge into #fascism .

With the recent influx of newcomers from #Bluesky , it behooves us to contemplate what we can do to improve #moderation on the #Fediverse - something that has been a problem in the past, and is one of the major reasons why the Fediverse is not as big and as diverse as it could be.

The first and most important step is a cultural change - we need to be _aware_ of how harassment operates, _especially_ if we are not its target. Thus, everyone around here - admins most of all, but really everyone - needs to drill the following into their brains:

If you are not a member of a marginalized group, you are unlikely to ever see much of the #harassment they are experiencing. Heck, you might not even be able to recognize it as such! Thus, if members of said group talk about their experiences with harassment on the Fediverse, _take them at their word_ instead of reacting with disbelief or demands for explanation and elaboration.

It is this frequent reaction disbelief that has done more than anything else to harm the reputation of the Fediverse. Because let's face it, we are still a space that is overwhelmingly white and European/North American. If we want to change that - and it is my fervent belief that we should - then we need to take the lived experiences of others seriously.

Once we have accepted that we need to expand our understanding of how harassment on the Fediverse occurs, _then_ we can work out what tools are needed to improve the situation. Because I too often see the reaction:

"If someone experiences harassment on a large scale, they are not using the tools of the Fediverse correctly to prevent this."

This is blaming the victims of harassment for the problem, and not the Fediverse as a whole. And then we will have the same trainwreck as before, and the Fediverse will remain the same hobbyist's collective rather than the serious challenge to commercial social media platforms it should be if we ever want to stop the world's plunge into #fascism .

@bitsnpieces @mastodonmigration

i remember reading @mekkaokereke 's delineation of the #harassment of #black folk around a year ago

essentially using nonpublic #replyguy bullshit. other methods

you can say "well just block and move on"

but the reality is it is a degradation of your experience and enjoyment of #mastodon and drives you from the #fediverse

targeted harassment is not unique to mastodon

but it is a real, here. and we should care

it needs to be addressed with a beefier toolset

"many choices on #Mastodon promote speech maximalism over user safety [..] #federation as a #protocol encodes a negative form of #consent, allowing users to interact by default"

https://openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/JoCI/article/view/6644

An important and level-headed experiential analysis of #accountability and #harassment dynamics on federated social media.

(via @inquiline)

As #Trump & his allies call for #judges to be impeached or attack them as “radical left” political foes, the #families of judges are being singled out for #harassment.

Since Trump returned to power, at least 60 judges or appeals courts have slowed or blocked some of his admin’s initiatives. Reuters spoke w/ 12 federal judges who raised concerns about the #security of their own families or of the relatives of colleagues handling Trump-related cases.

#law #judiciary #Extremism #DomesticTerrorism

#Boasberg & #McConnell are among at least 11 federal #judges whose #families have faced threats of #violence or #harassment after they ruled against the new #Trump admin, a Reuters investigation found.

The broadsides are part of an #intimidation campaign directed at federal judges who have stood in the way of Trump’s moves to dramatically expand #PresidentialAuthority & slash the federal govt.

#law #judiciary #felon47 #StochasticTerrorism #Extremism #DomesticTerrorism #MAGA

These #judges ruled against #Trump. Then their #families came under attack.

As federal judges rule against the Trump administration in dozens of politically charged cases, the families of at least 11 of the jurists have been targeted with #threats & #harassment.

[Note: This story contains offensive language]
#law #judiciary #felon47 #StochasticTerrorism #Extremism #DomesticTerrorism #MAGA
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/these-judges-ruled-against-trump-then-their-families-came-under-attack-2025-05-02/

These #judges ruled against #Trump. Then their #families came under attack.

As federal judges rule against the Trump administration in dozens of politically charged cases, the families of at least 11 of the jurists have been targeted with #threats & #harassment.

[Note: This story contains offensive language]
#law #judiciary #felon47 #StochasticTerrorism #Extremism #DomesticTerrorism #MAGA
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/these-judges-ruled-against-trump-then-their-families-came-under-attack-2025-05-02/