The server is now live and in use at social.overheid.nl
The official announcement post by the State Secretary of Digitalisation: https://social.overheid.nl/@avhuffelen/110700825255524685
In the post she mentions that the government supports ‘value-driven’ alternatives to social media. In a letter to the house of representatives she describes Mastodon as a Digital Common Good, and that it fits in the larger strategy of the government of using ‘open source, unless’ (meaning theyll always use open source unless there is a clear explicit reason not to).
Interesting, never heard of that group, surprised they survived the Trump years, given that Obama was the one that created the unit.
Slightly related, I remember sitting in on a recruitment seminar for the CIA some years back when they came to our design school and gave a talk about the graphic designers that prepare Intelligence Reports for the President. Interesting talk, but they had absolutely no sense of humor (as I guess anybody would expect). Other than background checks and all that for a government position, I was surprised at how relatively easy it seemed for an entry-level graphic designer to get that close to interacting with the Presidency and classified secrets. However, given the demands of the job, I’m sure it burns people out pretty quickly. This USDS group though sounds like it might be slightly less stressful, though still an important position for designers to get into.