Mastodon, the decentralized social media platform that many are touting as a Twitter alternative, grew from about 300,000 monthly active users to 2.5 million between October and November, Mastodon CEO, founder, and lead developer Eugen Rochko said on his blog. Elon Musk officially became the owner of Twitter at the end of October, which means that the huge jump in Mastodon’s users happened almost immediately after Musk started running the social network.

In the post, Rochko also reflects on Twitter’s bans on Mastodon and other social networks, introduced and later lifted, blocking journalists, account @joinmastodon and @ElonJet.

“This is a stark reminder that centralized platforms can impose arbitrary and unfair limits on what you can and can’t say while holding your social graph hostage,” Rochko writes. “At Mastodon, we believe there should be no middleman between you and your audience, and that journalists and government agencies especially should not rely on a private platform to reach the public.”

Mastodon isn’t the only Twitter replacement people are turning to. There is Post headed by the former Waze CEO Noam Bardin, Hive, which recently relaunched after fixing some security issues, and familiar social platforms like Discord, Tumblr, and Reddit. But despite growing interest in alternatives, Twitter is holding on for now.

Rochko, however, expresses confidence in Mastodon’s future. “Understanding that freedom of the press is absolutely essential for a functional democracy, we are excited to see Mastodon grow and become a household name in newsrooms across the world, and we are committed to continuing to improve our software to face up to new challenges that come with rapid growth and increasing demand,” he wrote.