Mastodon is a free open-source self-hosted federated social network platform that has gained interest due to Twitter's account verification process. To verify an account on Mastodon, users can follow a simplified process by adding a verification link to their website and updating its content accordingly. The verified account status is not directly tied to the user's identity but rather to the ownership of the linked website. However, security concerns exist as malicious users could exploit vulnerabilities in the website to introduce fake verification or steal passwords. Users should be aware that Direct Messages are not encrypted by default on instances and hope for a resolution soon.