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Is newsie.social a Scam? Security Check Results - Newsie.social Reviews

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Is newsie.social Safe? Security Analysis for Newsie.social

Check if newsie.social is a scam or legitimate. Free security scan and reviews.

MediaN/amedium
Mastodon 4.3.9Ruby on Rails (implied by Mastodon)JavaScriptReact (implied by UI components)WebSocket streaming API
Analyzed 9/5/2025Completed 12:53:36 AM
68
Security Score
MEDIUM RISK

AI Summary

Newsie.social operates as a professionally administered Mastodon instance primarily serving journalists and news outlets. It provides a federated social media platform focusing on news and current events, attracting a medium-sized active user base. The platform leverages Mastodon 4.3.9 technology with a modern web stack and WebSocket streaming for real-time updates. The website is well-designed, mobile-optimized, and offers a good user experience with clear navigation and relevant content. Security posture is adequate with HTTPS enforced and some security best practices observed, though additional headers could enhance protection. Privacy compliance is basic with a privacy policy present but lacking comprehensive cookie or terms of service disclosures. Overall, the domain registration is privacy protected, which is typical for social media platforms, and no suspicious patterns were detected. The site content is safe for general audiences and does not contain adult or explicit material.

Detected Technologies

Mastodon 4.3.9Ruby on Rails (implied by Mastodon)JavaScriptReact (implied by UI components)WebSocket streaming API

🧠AI Business Intelligence

Technology stack, business insights, and market analysis powered by AI.

Business Intelligence

Market & Strategic Analysis

Newsie.social holds a niche market position as a Mastodon server dedicated to news and journalism, serving a specialized audience of journalists and news consumers. Its business model revolves around providing a federated social media platform with a focus on professional content. The platform benefits from trust indicators such as verified accounts and professional administration. While explicit revenue streams are not disclosed, the platform likely relies on community support or donations typical of federated social networks. The ecosystem includes links to prominent news sources and related Mastodon instances, enhancing its credibility and reach. Growth indicators include active user engagement and content relevance. Strategic partnerships or subsidiaries are not evident from the data.

Extracted Contact Information

Marketing Intelligence Data

Email Addresses (19)

l*****@med-mastodon.comThe
V*****@mastodon.socialHere
E*****@mastodon.socialUnemployment
e*****@bsky.brid.gyRFK
h*****@wandering.shopI
+14 more emails found

Security Posture Analysis

Comprehensive Security Assessment

The security maturity of Newsie.social is moderate. The site enforces HTTPS and includes nonce-based Content Security Policy elements, reducing risks of cross-site scripting. However, the absence of explicit security headers like HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options suggests room for improvement. No exposed sensitive data or vulnerable libraries were detected in the HTML content. The platform lacks visible incident response or vulnerability disclosure mechanisms, which could be enhanced to improve security readiness. Privacy compliance is basic, with a privacy policy but no clear cookie consent or GDPR-specific disclosures. Overall, the security posture is adequate for a social media platform but would benefit from enhanced header configurations and formal security policies.

Strategic Recommendations

Priority Actions for Security Improvement

1

Implement comprehensive security headers including HSTS, X-Frame-Options, and X-Content-Type-Options to strengthen site security.

Observations

AI-powered comprehensive website and business analysis.

AI-Enhanced Website Analysis

Business Insights

Company:

Newsie.social

Description:

A large and professionally administered Mastodon server that hosts a large number of journalists and news outlets. Content focuses heavily on news and current events.

Key Services:
Mastodon social networkingnews and current events content hostingprofile directory
Content Quality:

good

Branding:

consistent

Technical Stack

Technologies:
Mastodon 4.3.9Ruby on Rails (implied by Mastodon)JavaScriptReact (implied by UI components)WebSocket streaming API
Frameworks:
Mastodon
Platforms:
Fediverse
Performance:

moderate

Mobile:

good

Accessibility:

basic

SEO:

basic

Security Assessment

Security Score:
75/100
Best Practices:
  • HTTPS enforced
  • Content Security Policy nonce present
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML

Analytics & Tracking

Tracking Level:minimal
Privacy Compliance:basic

Advertising & Marketing

Transparency Level:poor

Website Quality Assessment

Design Quality:good
User Experience:good
Content Relevance:good
Navigation Clarity:good
Professionalism:good
Trustworthiness:high

Key Observations

1

Website is a Mastodon social media instance focused on news and journalism.

🛡️Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis and recommendations.

Security Headers

HTTP security headers analysis

70/100
Score

Weak Strict-Transport-Security configuration

LOW

Current value: "max-age=15552000"

Weak X-XSS-Protection configuration

LOW

Current value: "0"

Weak Referrer-Policy configuration

LOW

Current value: "same-origin"

Missing Permissions-Policy header

MEDIUM

Controls browser features and APIs

Sensitive data may be cached

LOW

Cache-Control header should include "no-store" for sensitive pages

👤GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment under GDPR regulations.

GDPR Compliance

Privacy and data protection assessment

53/100
Score

No Cookie Policy found

HIGH

GDPR requires clear information about cookie usage

No Cookie Consent Banner found

HIGH

GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

No Data Protection Officer mentioned

LOW

Large organizations may need to designate a DPO under GDPR

Privacy policy may not be GDPR compliant

MEDIUM

Privacy policy lacks explicit GDPR compliance elements

GDPR Compliance Analysis

Privacy Policy85% confidence
Cookie Policy0% confidence
Contact Information Found90% confidence
emailphone

🛡️NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive compliance assessment.

NIS2 Compliance

Network & Information Security Directive

17/100
Score

No information security framework found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity and information security measures

No vulnerability disclosure policy

MEDIUM

NIS2 encourages coordinated vulnerability disclosure

No security policy documentation found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented cybersecurity governance and risk management

No incident response procedures found

HIGH

NIS2 requires documented incident response and business continuity plans

No business continuity planning found

MEDIUM

NIS2 emphasizes operational resilience and business continuity

No security contact information

HIGH

NIS2 requires clear incident reporting channels

No vulnerability reporting mechanism

MEDIUM

Clear vulnerability reporting supports coordinated disclosure

No NIS2 reference found

LOW

Consider explicitly mentioning NIS2 compliance efforts

📧Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation and email security assessment.

Email Security

SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation

70/100
Score

No DKIM record found

MEDIUM

DKIM adds cryptographic signatures to emails

No BIMI Record

LOW

BIMI displays brand logos in email clients

No MTA-STS Policy

MEDIUM

MTA-STS enforces TLS for email delivery

No TLS-RPT Record

LOW

TLS-RPT provides reporting for email TLS issues

SPF
Sender Policy Framework
DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail
DMARC
Domain-based Message Authentication
MX Records
Mail Exchange Records
BIMI
Brand Indicators
MTA-STS
Mail Transfer Agent Security
TLS-RPT
TLS Reporting
DNSSEC
DNS Security
SPF Details
Record:
v=spf1 a mx include:spf.postal.honeytreetech.com include:mailgun.org ~all
DNS Lookups:4/10
Policy:~all

🏆SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis.

SSL/TLS Security

Certificate validity and encryption analysis

75/100
Score

SSL Certificate Expires Within 90 Days

MEDIUM

SSL certificate expires in 85 days

Weak SSL Key Length

HIGH

SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

Partial SSL/TLS Assessment

LOW

Completed 2 of 4 security checks due to time constraints

Certificate Details

Subject:newsie.social
Issuer:WE1
Valid Until:11/29/2025 (85 days)
SANs:newsie.social, *.newsie.social

OCSP Status

OCSP Stapling Disabled

📊DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment.

DNS Health

DNS configuration and security assessment

80/100
Score

DNSSEC Not Enabled

MEDIUM

DNSSEC is not configured for this domain

No DMARC Record

MEDIUM

DMARC policy not configured

DNS Records

A Records:172.66.157.133, 104.20.44.194
AAAA Records:2606:4700:10::6814:2cc2, 2606:4700:10::ac42:9d85
Name Servers:
alan.ns.cloudflare.comDNS only
gail.ns.cloudflare.comDNS only
MX Records:
10: mxa.mailgun.org
SOA:Serial: 2382142346, TTL: 1800s

DNSSEC Status

DNSSEC Not Enabled

DNS Performance

Resolution Time:46ms

SPF Analysis

SPF Record:
v=spf1 a mx include:spf.postal.honeytreetech.com include:mailgun.org ~all

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis.

Network Security

Port scanning and network exposure analysis

100/100
Score

Good Network Security Posture

LOW

No unnecessary services detected on common risky ports

🔧Technical Analysis

Detailed technical findings and analysis from AI assessment.

Technical Analysis

Comprehensive security assessment findings

Additional Findings

The website is built on Mastodon 4.3.9, a Ruby on Rails-based federated social media platform. It uses modern JavaScript, React components, and WebSocket streaming for real-time interactions. The site is mobile-optimized with responsive design and includes meta tags for SEO and social sharing (Open Graph). Performance is moderate with no evident blocking or errors. The site lacks some advanced security headers and formal privacy mechanisms. Hosting details are not explicitly disclosed, and WHOIS data is privacy protected. Overall, the technical infrastructure is solid for a federated social platform but could benefit from enhanced security and privacy features.
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