This is based on the risk assessment for toot.wales.
This document was last updated 2025-03-17.
Colin Wright and Christian Lawson-Perfect operate a small Mastodon service “mathstodon.xyz” that allows persons to request permission to create hosted accounts on the service (subject to our terms of service and account approval process) and to then publish text and media to public and private feeds. The service further allows approved users to find and follow content from a wide variety of world wide web sources, predominantly using an Internet protocol “ActivityPub” that allows third-party services using the same protocol to interoperably exchange messages with our service.
Of particular note, there are no “virality” mechanisms that would increase the risk of harm to a large number of users, as the service is predominantly user-configured chronological feeds. In short, while mathstodon.xyz is a social media service, it is euser-centred and does not enable or facilitate viral marketing or reach.
The mathstodon.xyz service is therefore a user-to-user service, hosted in the United Kingdom with a significant proportion of its audience being United Kingdom residents.
The service is administered and moderated by volunteer staff who take actions on actors, behaviour, and content subject to service policies and process manuals, which are available as listed in the table below.
The service is operated and administered by Colin Wright and Christian Lawson-Perfect.
| The service to which the risk assessment relates | https://mathstodon.xyz |
|---|---|
| Service size | 19,980 registered accounts |
| The named person responsible for the risk assessment | Colin Wright |
| The findings of this risk assessment have been reported and recorded through appropriate governance channels | This document will be made available as required and appropriate |
| Date of this risk assessment | Match 4th, 2025 |
| Next scheduled review date | March 1st, 2026 |
| Content | Risk factors | Conclusion | Rationale | Measures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrorism | 1a, 4a, 5,b, 5e, 7b | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the site opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA): Grooming | 1a, 2, 3a, 4a, 5b | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The service prohibits user accounts created by persons under the age of 18, and we are unaware of any accounts that are operated by or for a person under the age of 18. | None |
| Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA): Images | 1a, 2, 5b | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service. | None |
| Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (CSEA): URLs | 7b | Low | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is low. The content is prohibited by our terms of service. As we have no access to a database or directory of CSEA URLs, we respond to user-generated reports and/or moderator review to remove this content reactively. If such a database were available, we would implement a filter to disallow these URls from appearing on the service. | None |
| Encouraging or assisting suicide | 1a, 5e, 5g, 7b | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Hate | 1a, 3a, 5e | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Harassment, stalking, threats and abuse | 1a, 3a, 4a, 5b, 5e, 5g | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Controlling or coercive behaviour | 1a, 4a, 5b | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Drugs and psychoactive substances | 1a, 3a, 4a, 5b, 5e, 7b | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Firearms, knives or other weapons | 1a | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Human trafficking | 1a, 3a, 5e | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Unlawful immigration | 1a, 3a, 5e | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Sexual exploitation of adults | 1a, 3a | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Extreme pornography | 1a, 5e | Low | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is low. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and our proactive and reactive content moderation processes severely limit the accidental availability of such content. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Intimate image abuse | 1a, 5b, 5g | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and our proactive and reactive content moderation processes severely limit the accidental availability of such content. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Proceeds of crime | 1a, 3a | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Fraud and financial offences | 1a, 3a, 4a, 5b, 7b | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Foreign interference | 1a, 3a, 4a, 5e, 5g, 7b | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. | None |
| Animal cruelty | 1a, 5e | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. The content is prohibited by our terms of service, and since the service opened no such content has been published by our hosted accounts. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. | None |
| Other illegal content | Negligible | The likelihood of a visitor encountering this content, or the service being used to facilitate or commit this offence, is negligible. All harms as described in https://connect.iftas.org/library/iftas-documentation/shared-vocabulary-labels/ are disallowed and/or subject to moderator action. Where such content may be encountered from third-party web sites that can be viewed from within the service, we routinely block access to such third-party sources when notified by user reporting. |
| Duty | mathstodon.xyz Approach |
|---|---|
| To prevent individuals from encountering priority illegal content by means of the service | The moderators take swift action to remove and block sources of illegal content. |
| To effectively mitigate and manage the risk of the service being used for the commission or facilitation of a priority offence | New user accounts are reviewed, including but not limited to the IP address (geolocation and IP reputation score where appropriate), email domain, and “reason for joining”. |
| To effectively mitigate and manage the risks of harm to individuals | No additional actions planned |
| To minimise the length of time for which any priority illegal content is present | In general, we follow the harms classifications and definitions found at https://connect.iftas.org/library/iftas-documentation/shared-vocabulary-labels/ unless local law preempts or further defines such harms. |
| Where the provider is alerted by a person to the presence of any illegal content, or becomes aware of it in any other way, swiftly take down such content | As above. |
| To have in place regulatory compliance and risk management arrangements | This document |
| Design of functionalities, algorithms and other features | We prohibit the use of certain hashtags, removing content bearing these hashtags from our recommendation engine. Our domain blocks remove any associated listings from our “trending” or recommended content function. Our account suspensions in turn suppress listings from the account recommendation function. |
| Policies on terms of use | Code of conduct and server rules |
| Policies on user access to the service or to particular content present on the service, including blocking users from accessing the service or particular content | Code of conduct and server rules |
| Content moderation, including taking down content | Code of conduct and server rules |
| Functionalities allowing users to control the content they encounter | The service provides content in several contexts: a personalised chronological (“home”) timeline that will only show content the user has elected to “follow” either by account or by topic; a public timeline of locally-hosted user-generated content; a public timeline of third-party user-generated content that is not otherwise prohibited or removed by our content reviewers; Notifications;Conversations Account users can use the following features to control the content they encounter: * Filtering posts -(drop or hide) by keyword or phrase. These filters can be applied to each of the above contexts individually. * Hiding “boosts” - (allowing content from a followed account, but not allowing that followed account’s reposts or boosts) * Account muting * Account blocking * Domain (entire server) blocking * Reporting harmful content to our staff Full technical specifications for these options is available at https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moderating/ |
| User support measures | Users can message @ColinTheMathmo@mathstodon.xyz or @christianp@mathstodon.xyz, or email admin@email.mathstodon.xyz . |
| Staff policies and practices | All moderators agree to the code of conduct. Do more? |
| To include provisions in the terms of service specifying how individuals are to be protected from illegal content | |
| A duty to apply the provisions of the terms of service consistently | As above |
| A duty to include provisions in the terms of service giving information about any proactive technology used by a service for the purpose of compliance with a duty set out in s10(2) or 10(3) (including the kind of technology, when it is used, and how it works). | We don't use any proactive technology. |
| A duty to ensure that the provisions of the terms of service are clear and accessible | All policies are written in plain speech, reviewed annually, and linked to from various pages and account profiles on the service and our related web properties. |
| Ofcom reference | Measure | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| ICU A2 | Accountable individual | Colin Wright |
| ICU C1 | Content moderation function | Service staff will review and assess suspected illegal content |
| ICU C2 | Take down | Takedowns occur as soon as possible. We have moderators across a range of time zones to ensure a swift response. |
| ICU D1 | Enabling complaints | Users can appeal the resolution of reports using Mastodon's appeals sytem. Or, users can message @ColinTheMathmo@mathstodon.xyz or @christianp@mathstodon.xyz, or email admin@email.mathstodon.xyz . |
| ICU D2 | Easy to find complaints information | Service about page, service web site. |
| ICU D7 | Appropriate action for complaints | All complaints are reviewed by staff |
| ICU D10 | Appeals | All appeals are reviewed by staff |
| ICU D11 | Proactive technology | None |
| ICU D12 | Appropriate action for complaints | All complaints are reviewed by staff |
| ICU D13 | Manifestly unfounded complaints | All complaints are reviewed by staff |
| ICU G1 | Terms of service | Code of conduct and server rules |
| ICU G3 | Clarity of terms | See ICU G1 |
| ICU H1 | Proscribed organisations | The service will block any account and/or domain if we become aware that they are a member of a proscribed organisation. |