Social network privacy ratings
Decentralized and privacy-respecting social platforms.
20 social networks are rated against 4 public criteria, and 20 have enough evidence for a letter grade. Of the 9 with a known jurisdiction, 8 are based in a Five Eyes country, and 8 in the wider Fourteen Eyes.
Open-source social networks only · Criteria for this category · Suggest an addition · Markdown
| Name | Grade | Score | Data | Jurisdiction | Open source | No trackers or telemetry | No ads or data sales | Independent audit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) is an open protocol for publishing signed messages through independent relays, with identity based on public keys. Many independent clients and relays implement it. |
Grade A | 100 | 100% | – | Yes | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
Federated, self-hostable microblogging server built on ActivityPub, forked from Pleroma, with emoji reactions, Markdown posts and low resource use. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Decentralized social network made of independently run servers called pods, with aspects to control who sees each post. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Federated, self-hostable social network that connects over ActivityPub, diaspora* and other protocols, with per-post access lists and RSS import. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Lightweight, self-hostable ActivityPub server written in Go, used with Mastodon-compatible client apps. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Federated link aggregator and discussion platform built on ActivityPub, organized into communities hosted on independent servers. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Open source, decentralized microblogging platform built on ActivityPub, run as a network of independent servers with chronological timelines. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Federated, self-hostable link aggregator, discussion and microblogging platform built on ActivityPub, forked from /kbin. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Federated, self-hostable microblogging platform built on ActivityPub, with emoji reactions, customizable web interface, drive storage and channels. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Federated, self-hostable link aggregator and forum built on ActivityPub, compatible with Lemmy communities. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Federated, self-hostable photo sharing platform built on ActivityPub, with chronological feeds, albums, stories and no ads. |
Grade B | 80 | 100% | – | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Microblogging social network built on the open AT Protocol, run by Bluesky Social PBC, with custom feeds, composable moderation and account portability. |
Grade D | 50 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Open source, self-hostable discussion platform that works as a forum, mailing list or long-form chat room. A hosted version is sold by its developer. |
Grade F | 30 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | Yes | No | No | No |
Social network from Meta for sharing posts, photos and videos with friends, groups and pages, with Marketplace and Messenger chat. |
Grade F | 0 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | No | No | No | No |
Photo and video sharing social network from Meta, with Stories, Reels short videos and direct messages. |
Grade F | 0 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | No | No | No | No |
Professional social network owned by Microsoft for profiles, job listings, recruiting, messaging and business content. |
Grade F | 0 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | No | No | No | No |
Discussion site organized into topic communities called subreddits, where posts and comments are ranked by user votes. |
Grade F | 0 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | No | No | No | No |
Text-based microblogging app from Meta, linked to Instagram accounts, with optional sharing to the fediverse over ActivityPub. |
Grade F | 0 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | No | No | No | No |
Short-form video platform owned by ByteDance, with an algorithmic For You feed, live streams, messaging and shopping features. |
Grade F | 0 | 100% | Singapore Outside Eyes | No | No | No | No |
Microblogging social network, formerly Twitter, for short public posts, replies, reposts and direct messages. |
Grade F | 0 | 100% | United States Five Eyes | No | No | No | No |
Questions
What is the most private option among social networks?
No pick has been made yet. The table above is sorted by score, based on public evidence.
How are social networks rated?
Each entry answers 4 questions: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales and independent audit. Answers need links to evidence. See the full criteria.
Does jurisdiction matter?
Jurisdiction decides which laws can compel a provider to hand over data. Each entry shows its country and whether it is in the Five, Nine or Fourteen Eyes. The data a provider can hand over depends mostly on what it stores and who holds the keys. Read about jurisdictions and the CLOUD Act.