Help centre
Questions, answered honestly
Find your audience below — or read the lot. We'd rather over-explain than hand-wave.
For node operators
What does it cost to join?
Nothing. Joining FediMedia is free. You only ever receive money, never pay to participate.
How much will I earn?
You keep 50% of every verified follow your node drives. There is no cap on earnings, though new nodes start with a modest daily release cap that grows as trust is established.
Do I need to change my server software?
No. You paste one small, dependency-free widget snippet where you want sponsored Boosts to appear. If you can add a script tag, you can run FediMedia.
Will it slow my node or track my users?
No tracking, ever. The widget is lightweight, sets no advertising cookies, and does no profiling. Anonymous, aggregate counts are all we keep.
How and when do I get paid?
Earnings are held briefly in escrow to guard against fraud, then released to your wallet. Payouts are settled in Pi after a one-time identity check (KYC).
Can I control what shows, or opt out?
Always. You choose whether the widget runs, where it appears, and which origins may embed it. You can remove it at any time.
Which platforms are supported?
Any federated node that can embed a script — Mastodon, Friendica, PeerTube (OurTube.Africa) and more.
For advertisers
What exactly am I paying for?
Only verified follows — a real person choosing to follow the account you promote. Impressions and unverified clicks are never billed.
How much does it cost?
A Boosted Post is R4 per verified follow; profile/group and event Boosts are R3. You set the campaign budget and only spend as follows happen.
How do I pay?
Fund a campaign by card or EFT via Paystack, or with Pi Network from the Pi Browser. Prepaid, transparent, no surprises.
Can I choose where my ad appears?
Yes. You target context — region, language, community topic and node type — and every ad is human-reviewed before it runs.
How do you prevent fake follows?
Follows are confirmed over ActivityPub, deduplicated per person and per target, held in escrow, and subject to per-node caps and fraud review. Bots and click farms don't get paid.
What reporting do I get?
A clear dashboard: follows, spend, remaining budget and performance, backed by an append-only ledger you can trust.
What content is allowed?
Honest, lawful advertising. We prohibit hate, harassment, illegal goods, adult content and anything that would harm a community.
For business owners
Is this really affordable for a small business?
Yes. You pay per verified follow, starting at R4, and you set the budget. There is no minimum spend, retainer or agency in the middle.
How is this different from Facebook or Google ads?
No tracking, no profiles, no auction against the biggest spender. Your ad appears in a community context, and your budget funds the node that hosts it.
Can I target just my town or region?
Yes — choose regions and languages so your spend reaches people who can actually walk in the door.
Do I need a website?
No. You can promote a Fediverse profile or a post directly.
What can I promote?
Offers, events, new stock, announcements, hiring and more — as long as it is honest and lawful.
Who will see my ad?
Opted-in users on participating nodes that match your region, language and topic. Never tracked individuals.
For users
Do I have to see ads?
No. Advertising on FediMedia is opt-in per node. Many nodes run it, some don't, and it is always the operator's choice — never forced on you.
Am I being tracked?
No. There are no advertising cookies, no fingerprinting and no cross-site tracking. Targeting is contextual, and our analytics are anonymous and aggregate.
Why am I seeing this particular ad?
Because of the context — the region, language or topic of the community — not because of a profile of you.
Does it cost me anything?
Nothing. In fact it helps keep your node free to use by contributing to its running costs.
Can I turn it off?
Ads are controlled at the node level, not per user. If you run a node, you decide. If you don't, you can ask your admin or move to a node without ads.
How do you know I'm human?
We don't profile you and we don't need to identify you. The billable event is a verified follow, confirmed through the protocol — not a click we take on trust.
For the Fediverse
Isn't advertising against the Fediverse ethos?
It can be — if it is built like the corporate web. FediMedia is the opposite: opt-in per node, contextual, anonymous, human-reviewed, and with the money going to the people running the servers. We would rather fund the Fediverse than watch it buckle under its own costs.
Who controls what runs on a node?
The node operator, always. They opt in, choose placement, and can remove the widget at any time. Nothing is centralised onto communities against their will.
Does this centralise power or data?
No. There is no tracking, no data broker and no profile. Targeting is coarse and contextual, and nodes stay sovereign over their communities.
How do you guard against enshittification?
By principle and by design: no tracking, fair margins to operators, an append-only ledger, human review of every ad, and no dark-pattern incentives to inflate metrics.
What about instance rules, blocking and defederation?
Fediverse norms come first. Ads that breach a node's rules are removed, and operators can refuse any advertiser.
Where does the money go?
The majority of every verified follow goes to the node operator; the platform keeps a modest share to run the network. No recycled corporate hands.
Still curious?
We're happy to answer anything we haven't covered. And if you're ready, there's a seat at the table.