.ml has a lot of pro-Russia, pro-China types and criticism of either country can lead to a quick ban.

Functionally, there is no difference. Both run the same software, tho the versions may slightly differ as the devs, who run .ml, push updates.

For a functionally different experience try Mbin/Kbin (I forget which is the current), or Piefed. Piefed is similar to Lemmy with some quality of life improvements. Kbin/Mbin is a cross between “tweet” style posts, “blog” style posts like tumblr, and Reddit type posts.