Mastodon CEO calls Meta's moderation changes 'deeply troubling,' warns users cross-posting from Threads
Mastodon CEO calls Meta's moderation changes 'deeply troubling,' warns users cross-posting from Threads | TechCrunch
Sarah Perez
11:39 AM PST · January 8, 2025
That’s my secret, Captain, I’m always defederated from corporate social media.
His name is John Mastodon.
His full name is John Mastodon Pterodactyl Triceratops Sabre-tooh Tiger Tyrannosaurus but he just goes by John Mastodon for short.
Nice. I wonder if he also plays drums for Mastodon.
Thank goodness Boint Boint is here to explain.
Because there's a company that makes the software used to run a Mastodon instance. Same way Mozilla has a CEO even though they're not in charge of the internet.
Who wants to be CEO of lemmy btw? You'll have no power over anything, but we can call you that from now on as a joke.
Sup
Corporate fediverse isnt true fediverse
Yeah, when my Lemmy server goes down I don’t want it to be because of a large scale cyber attack, I want it to be because some dude’s dog got the zoomies in the basement and tripped on a cable.
I find it funny how every time an oligarch owned platform starts getting popular people start screeching about Fediverse losing momentum. Yet, every few years these platforms inevitably start doing things that horrify their users and we see another exodus to open platforms happen.
I'm convinced its a combination of media silence on the fediverse (so most people don't know about it as an alternative), and younger audiences who don't know the history.
Because I can't imagine why grown adults who know the history of these companies, would do the goofy I'll fkn do it again meme, ten times in a row.
Relative obscurity is an aspect of it for sure, and I imagine networking effects are a big part of it as well. Accounts with a lot of followers tend to drive where people migrate. When a big account leaves twitter to bluesky they can pull thousands or even millions of users along with them. Meanwhile, people moving to Fediverse end up having to abandon a lot of the people they were following as a result. It's also a lot easier for an account to grow on a centralized platform which is another reinforcing factor here.
I think ignorance (in the non pejorative sense) plays a big part. I can't really blame my non technical friends for not fully understanding that ditching Facebook for Instagram doesn't help. Even if they know it's the same company, it's still a totally different product, right? There's also a certain apathy or need to just get something done.
I'm sure I've purchased things at Home Depot that would make a plumber cringe, but I know nothing about that sort of thing and I just need to get my sink working.
Still, I think those of us who do know should continue to lead by example. My friends know my stance on these things and some of them are coming around.
I agree, but I don't think we're in the cycle just yet, it feels like there's a big tipping point we're about to reach in the western owned social medium.
It's possible that we'll hit a point of critical mass where Fediverse becomes the dominant social media platform, but I don't think explosive growth is necessary either. Growth for the sake of growth holds little inherent value. Unlike commercial platforms reliant on VC funding to survive, Fediverse thrives on sustainability. What really matters is that there are enough developers to maintain the platforms, people to host the servers, and users to create content. With these elements in place, platforms like Lemmy and Mastodon can continue indefinitely without the need to attract users at a rapid pace.
In fact, rapid growth could do more harm than good. A sudden influx of users often brings toxic behaviors. When new users trickle in slowly, they adapt to the existing norms and culture of the community. But when a horde arrives, they risk overwhelming and reshaping the community in ways that trample over its core values. A steady stream of users allows for organic integration, preserving the essence of what makes sites like Lemmy pleasant.
Unlike commercial platforms, open-source projects don’t rely on profit motives to survive. They’re driven by people who directly benefit from their work and are passionate about their vision. When disagreements arise, projects can be forked, allowing different groups to take them in new directions. Even if a project is abandoned, it can be revived by a new team as long as there’s a dedicated community. This flexibility and resilience make open source inherently more sustainable than commercial platforms, which can vanish overnight if funding dries up.
The Fediverse, and Lemmy within it, only needs a large enough user base to remain self-sustaining. I’d argue that it’s already well past that threshold. There’s no rush to grow rapidly. Steady progress ensures the community retains its identity and values, while the open-source nature of the platform guarantees its longevity. Lemmy isn’t just another platform; it’s a sustainable, adaptable ecosystem built to endure. I’m willing to bet that Lemmy will still be around long after sites like Reddit crumble to dust.
we fucking said this would happen and this dumb asshole refused to defederate on the flagship instance anyway
Call me psychic. And he really is an asshole
Meta moderation was a dumpster fire before this, I can only imagine how bad it's going to get.
Currently they have blatant misinformation everywhere posted as real news, people read the stuff and believe it fully. It should be illegal - people are just too stupid to know Facebook is just a modern tabloid magazine.
Years ago I reported the same account for bullying the same person, every time FB came back saying “no issues found”. The site is fucked, and blatantly has been so for years. But it was recently pointed out to me it has been since the start. He’s not a nice guy.
Tabloid magazine? ... it's more like scribbled pieces of paper written by random strangers on the sidewalk ... people keep reading the crap and walk away happy that their worst beliefs have just been confirmed by 100 random strangers with scribbled pieces of paper who told them so.
How do I find out if my Mastodon server is federated with Threads?
https://fedipact.veganism.social/ has a search feature.
This is old, it still has the (now defunct) feddit.de instead of feddit.org
Nice. Pretty happy that most of the fediverse, and most lemmy instances, are blocking threads.
At least on mine, there's an "About" link on the bottom left side on the web interface, click that and scroll to the bottom where you'll get a list of blocked servers, then just uncollapse that and ctrl+f for "threads.net".
Even if your Mastodon instance is federated with Threads, you can still block the whole domain from your account. Explanation / walkthrough here: https://mastodon.social/@_elena/113797840274825233
Also if you search "@threads.net" in your mastodon client and you find users from that server, then your server should be connected
“Who saw that comi… who saw where that came from!”
Back when they were first able to federate (if you can even call their one-way dissemination of propaganda into the fediverse "federating"), my Mastodon instance didn't block them so I moved to another instance that blocked them from the get-go. I wanted an instance-level block to keep their shit off the server completely, not just an individual-level "block" which is more like ignoring than blocking.
Oh, no It's not like Mastodon instances have fact checkers or even sufficient moderation staff
Many instances are fairly well-moderated I would argue
Back in my day we were perfectly capable of checking our own facts. A rare skill these days.
I have an idea. Make it so every time you create a social media account, you have to check "agree" to a giant banner that says "if you take anything you see on here seriously, you are an idiot.". That's how we used to automatically treat things on the Internet at first glance.
That’s what I don’t get about people getting mad at the removal of “fact checkers”. Zuck was right in that they were uneducated and highly biased. Their “context” a lot of time was downright misleading. I never trusted them anyway because I don’t get my news from random people on the internet.
Bullshit. Where would you get these facts? From sources curated by government censors and Cold War propagandists.
I watched a damn Doris Day movie last month that had imperialist propaganda shoved in it. No living person predates propaganda, and your overconfidence that you were able to sort it out with even less information sources available is ridiculous.
Who is the gentile here, and in what way is that relevant?
And all the goyim say I'm pretty fly for a rabbi!
Let big corpo tell you whats true and whats not goyim
Alright uncle Cletus, it's time for your nap. Don't forget your antipsychotic cyanide pills 🥰
The fact that mastodon actually has a CEO is alarming.
Does the Mastodon CEO prefer content curated by the “former” CIA & Mossad agents working at Facebook? Is Mastodon censoring content?
Damn! If only someone could've predicted that Meta would eventually do something stupid like this! If only we had defederated from them from the start /s
But nobody could have seen that coming! /s
https://fedipact.online/