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Threads Has Begun Federating Via ActivityPub
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this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
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Technology
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Normally and with very many other issues ... I would agree with you ... but on this issue I'm very adamant about what I see and believe.
Think about it ... Facebook is a billion dollar corporation and they show interest in your little world and the little things you are doing and they want to join you. This is a company that already has billions invested in systems that already have billions of users and millions of dollars of man power and technological resources. Why do they want to step into what we are doing here? Why do they feel a need to step into our space? Do they need more users? Do they need help from us?
Big corporations are only interested in perpetual growth at all costs. They are also deathly afraid of competition or the potential of future competition. Look at the history of manufacturing, automotive corporations over the past hundred years ... it's a long history of the strong eating the weak.
I agree my argument may sound childish or extreme but in this instance it's pretty clear ... if you let them in, it's basically the beginning of the end for the fediverse.
It's the metaphorical Trojan Horse .... once it's inside and firmly established, everything will be lost.
I think there's a much simpler explanation. Elon's actions are causing users to want to leave the platform. Meta wants to pounce on this opportunity. ActivityPub is an established, open source protocol that allows Meta to quickly spin up a Twitter competitor. The federated nature means that Meta can reduce regulatory risk. At the same time, they can lobby for increased scrutiny of Twitter since it isn't interroperable like Threads.
I have no idea if this is actually how Meta is strategizing. But what I definitely know is that Meta absolutely doesn't consider federated social media a threat. They aren't trying to squash us. They're aimed at Twitter. If they make some change that degrades the experience for us, absolutely we should consider defederation. Until then, let's try to make some converts out of Threads users.
It's a type of squashing .... they step in, take over, control it and the whole thing becomes something that is beyond our control and becomes another platform that is operated by a private corporation to manipulate and manage thought, content and private freedoms. Basically squashing the Fediverse that we originally wanted to exist.
Once a major powerful corporation steps in and is given access ... it's like allowing a local gang member in your town to use your living room to deal drugs ... at first you get some benefits but eventually, they'll take over your house, throw you out and tell you go somewhere else because you don't own the house any more, no matter what anyone says.
That's not how the fediverse works, there is no obligation for any instance to federate with any other, and there are large groups of instances that block each other right now.
Meta can't throw anyone out of whatever instance they're on, it's just not possible.
yes not presently ... but one an entity like Meta becomes the dominant system in this universe, eventually, they will build all the keys and controls to regulate it all ... that's the point when they will lock out whoever they want
this is like the debate with climate change ... no one really understands what's going to happen in a few decades so we don't care ... when in reality, the time to do something about some future catastrophe is now ... it's the same thing with the fediverse, don't allow big corporations in now, because we won't be able to do anything about it later when they've overwhelmed everything.
Meta is already the dominant social network, and yet here we are. They can't take that back, they can't stop people from spinning up their own ActivityPub instances (if you don't know how, go to YounoHost and do it the simple way), Meta can't stop these instances from communicating among themselves in any way their owners see fit.
Sure, Meta can lock out whoever they want out of Threads... but that's the status quo already: the whole fediverse is currently "locked out" from Threads, they can't lock it out any more.
As for climate change, the time to do something was over 125 years ago... so yeah, that boat has sailed many many times over:
https://blogs.bl.uk/science/2016/12/the-first-paper-on-carbon-dioxide-and-global-warming.html