It's not about the data they can collect. As long as we don't use the Meta app or register in their instance we're on the clear. The problem is giving them power.

I'm not an evil ~~genius~~ shithead like Zuck, but it could go this way:

1. They enter the Fediverse as the biggest instance.
2. They artificially slow down connections with other instances. That way, lots of users from smaller intances will migrate to the Meta one. Only the ones concerned about our privacy will remain in independent instances.
3. Once most of the userbase of the Fediverse is on their instance, they keep slowing it, or adding "features" only available in their app, effectively building a wall between them and the rest of instances.
4. Finally they defederate, leaving the rest of the fediverse weaker than it was.

.

There are some key thoughts in this article.

Wait, an app can do this? I thought the devs of Lemmy itself needed to add the feature. I didn't think that was possible app-side without adding the feature to Lemmy.

How do you block an entire instance in their app?

Edit: Found it! This is interesting. I didn't know it was possible. Finally I can get the porn off my front page without getting rid of NSFW memes. Thanks!

Edit 2: Weirdly, Connect does not seem to show my newly subscribed communities in my subscriptions even though the other apps do. What a strange bug. Hmm...I think I'll hold off on using it until things like that work better for me.