Companies like Meta are federating, and Twitter cofounders are getting on the Mastodon non-profit board.
Because they see people building this network of their own and grow naturally, and the capitalists think, "How can I make money off this?"
They can't fathom something not meant to create a profit for them.
@RadicalEdward what worries me with Meta particularly is the Microsoft style 'embrace, extend, extinguish'. You can guarantee that with enough time they'll find a way to take over. The protocol will evolve according to their requirements and developers will be bought out.