@jwildeboer last thing we need is more and more social networks coming under US control. But regardless of what is behind it, it may be very good reasons, Mastodon is not the Fediverse. We have plenty of ActivityPub based clients. I like the idea of #GoToSocial which has no central server instance, so you are encouraged to host it for family and friends, and it can even run off a Pi.
The big central instances do cost a lot to host, and there is no easy way around that. Donations or paid access