We’re in an exciting time for users who want to take back control from major platforms like Twitter and Facebook. However, this new environment comes with challenges and risks for user privacy, so we need to get it right and make sure networks like the Fediverse and Bluesky are mindful of past...
TLDR
He was raided for unrelated reasons to his mastodon server, the police have a seize it all policy.
There is talk about changing policy to exclude things like servers and similar devices that are not related to the initial reason for the search. There doesn’t seem to currently be laws or rules about what police can or can’t do with data.
That’s the whole article basically
Good TLDR
I would also add:
Data gathered from the raid can be used to investigate and prosecute crimes unrelated to the original seizure.
Mastodon does not currently encrypt direct messages.
That’s because Mastodon doesn’t have direct messages. It is not a chat platform. You can bend the privacy settings to publish posts similarly to DMs, but no one should use it as such.