this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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The fediverse is discussing if we should defederate from Meta's new Threads app. Here's why I probably won't (for now).

(Federation between plume and my lemmy instance doesn't work correctly at the moment, otherwise I would have made this a proper crosspost)

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The whole point for me moving to the Fediverse was to get away from companies\platforms like FB\IG,and Twitter. Federate all you want with Meta I just hope there’s a running list of which instances does and doesn’t federate with meta so I can join the latter. Not sure why people are so hot on looking at pictures of people’s ugly kids on 2 platforms.

[–] artair 15 points 2 years ago (3 children)

This is why I use a paid host for Mastodon. Six bucks a month gets me my own instance with a custom domain and full admin rights.

There are three of us on said instance, and only two of us are active. It's easier to build a consensus that way. Absolutely none of us want to federate with anything Meta/Facebook. I preemptively blocked threads.net yesterday. To quote Khan Noonien-Singh:

"Let them eat static."

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

See, that's the nice thing about a federated solution. I can use my personal instance that federates with Mata and you can use one that doesn't and we can both be happy and still talk to each other. Being able to pick an instance that suits your preferences is the biggest selling point of the fediverse.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 2 years ago (24 children)

Do you want Facebook to do to us what Google did to XMPP???

Embrace, extend, extinguish.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 years ago

Yup they can mess up the fediverse in the near future

https://fabulous.systems/posts/2023/06/meta-is-a-danger-to-the-fediverse/

https://fediversereport.com/meta-plans-on-joining-the-fediverse-the-responses/

And there's Google's with their new privacy policy states that it can use publicly available data to help train its AI models

https://www.engadget.com/googles-updated-privacy-policy-states-it-can-use-public-data-to-train-its-ai-models-095541684.html

They only cares about money and unlimited growth.

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[–] leraje 46 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I understand a lot of the arguments made and in reality you're right, if they want our data, they'll get it.

However, I also think that making it as difficult and therefore expensive as possible for them is a legitimate way to respond and make it clear to them that they are here on sufferance and not welcome. That might be seen as immature and pointless and maybe that's so, but I do think it's important to defederate from Threads to demonstrate our collective unwillingness to become their commodity.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Your argument is fully valid and defederating might be the right thing to do for you.

In the end, I have to weigh their cost to scrape my data against my cost to access content that I need. As someone who has built scrapers for scientific purposes before, I can tell you that building something that scrapes Mastodon and Lemmy instances is not a single cent more expensive than getting my data through federation. It's also probably a lot more reliable because they can get everything, not just what their users subscribe to. On the other hand, my cost for accessing my friends' and family's posts as well as corporate social media accounts if I don't do it through federation is creating an account in their proprietary app. And then they will be able to get a lot more of my data than they could ever scrape from my Mastodon profile.

[–] leraje 7 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I take your points entirely and I do understand why you feel the way you do. Maybe what I'm saying is more symbolic - a gesture - than a realistic chance of fending them off but I do feel it's important to send that message, even if it costs them nothing financially.

I only use one Meta product (FB) and only that because its a way to stay in contact with family and friends that are just not technically able to migrate to a healthier platform but I don't use their app. I use the website, with Social Fixer, in a Firefox Container and use Frost on my phone. I have managed to get all my family and some friends to switch to Signal rather than WhatsApp and I have zero interest in Instagram. I think using mitigating methods and technologies like these, in conjunction with defederating from Threads (is it going to be one central instance?) is a viable way forward.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

There's also the case where it is ILLEGAL for them to try to procure our data through non-consensual means. This is why threads is not launching in Europe.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Its interesting that everyone focuses on the privacy and the EEE risk of this, but my reasons for leaving Facebook were that Facebook is actively-allowing-the-promotion-of-genocide-because-not-moderating-is-better-for-their-bottom-line Evil. I left facebook because I'm not willing to provide the (even infinitesimal) boost to their network effects that my account had. For the same reason, Threads is an instant defederate on launch.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 years ago

"It forces them to play by the rules"

They will play by the rules because that's the Embrace step of EEE, not because anyone forced them to.

[–] bizzle 20 points 2 years ago

I think federation with Meta would be the best way to encourage low effort Facebook stye content, which sucks. Ban Meta.

[–] Sanyanov 20 points 2 years ago (8 children)

A valid point was made here that we should probably have a small section of the Fediverse federated with Meta as a way to access Threads without leaving the safety of the Fediverse.

But the rest should defederate. We must protect what we fought hard to gain.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years ago

Interesting take, but I am still defederating them to hell and asking others to do so. Facebook's moderation approch is to allow the most hateful cingeng under the guise of fair political speech and I won't stand for it

[–] ekZepp 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I won't be sucked in some other big tech social if I don't intend to. The moment my posts are accessible from Thread is the moment i will burn all my posts to the ground, just as I did before. My stuff can stay on my Hard drive for all i care.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

defederating means that people who want to connect with someone on the platform are forced to install it. fuck that. not defederating gives people an alternative and shows them using the fediverse means they don't miss out on anything regardless of platform.

if I want to access threads content and I can do it using my existing fed account without installing their app and giving them access to my heartrate, microphone and bowel moton stats then frankly that's a win for us.

[–] TheKingBee 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Here's my problem/concern have you read their privacy policy? I want no part of that, would being federated with them mean that they get to siphon up all of my data too? If so I don't think the defederating goes far enough...

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[–] tenth 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Its your choice as instance owner to do that

Visit https://fedipact.online/ to see a list of instance owners who will defederate their instance from Threads

Heads up: its a long list

[–] mvirts 7 points 2 years ago

... could you argue that federation content from a cc-by-sa licensed instance would be in violation on a commercial instance? Meta is a us corporation after all

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (8 children)

What on earth is Plume?

What exactly is Threads?

How does any of this work?

I thought I had a handle on what Mastodon was, but then there was this threads thing, and Lemmy is apparently also part of the Fediverse but not Mastodon, I assume, and Threads is its own thing, and calckey and kbin exist, maybe, and I'd never heard of Plume until this post...I don't understand any of this. Reddit and Twitter are how I would generally follow this sort of happening but Mastodon and Lemmy are ghost towns I don't really understand how to use. I'm so utterly lost I don't even know where to begin with finding answers. I don't even have known unknowns, just unknown in unknowns.

[–] murphys_lawyer 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

don't lose your head over this. lemmy, kbin, mastodon and apparently threads (the new twitter alternative by facebook/meta) are all part of the fediverse, which means they all follow a decentralised approach. mastodon and threads are microblogging platforms, while kbin and lemmy have a similar format to reddit. because they are all part of the fediverse, all these platforms communicate with each other and you can use kbin to subscribe to microblogs such as mastodon and have them appear in your feed. defederation basically means cutting the link between one server and another, so they can't communicate anymore.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

you can use kbin to subscribe to microblogs such as mastodon and have them appear in your feed.

How does that even make sense? They're completely different types of content.

If Threads is just another Mastodon instance why does anyone care?

If everything is just decentralised instances what are kbin and Lemmy, exactly? They're not instances in themselves, are they?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (4 children)

@koberulz @murphys_lawyer
Threads isn't just another Mastodon instance. Threads uses a similar format to Mastodon, and they may communicate with each other, but the similarities stop there. Threads will probably have some proprietary features to make it "stand out" from the others. Also, if many people jump on board Threads, the thing is that Meta will then have a monopoly on the Fediverse, which is the exact thing the Fediverse is trying to extinguish: Monopolies controlled by corporations.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Mostly answered in my other comment but for visibility and completeness, I'll try to answer it here again.

The content may look different on the surface but that's mostly because the different applications present them differently. Under the hood, it's almost identical. Users create posts, other users can reply or like. What differs is the details. Mastodon posts are by default limited to 500 characters, Lemmy/kbin posts can be a few thousand, Plume posts can be even longer. Mastodon and Plume only have likes, Lemmy and kbin add dislikes (downvotes). Posts and comments that come from a different application may look a bit weird in whatever you use but at least they show up in your feed and you have the option to click a link to see them in their original form. In facht, @[email protected]'s reply to your comment came from a Mastodon instance and they will see my reply in their Mastodon feed.

As for the difference between kbin and Lemmy, they're two different pieces of software that interact with the Fediverse in a very similar way. When someone wants to setup a Reddit-like fediverse instance, they can freely choose between them based on personal preference (I chose Lemmy for my instance because kbin is harder to install and update). Imagine them like being able to choose between a phone by Apple, Samsung, Huawei or Nokia. All those phones have their own specific pros and cons but because they communicate through the same protocols, they can still talk to each other. An instance would be analogous to your Samsung phone or my Apple phone or my partner's Nokia phone. There are many fediverse instances that use Lemmy as their software same as there are many Samsung phones in the world. The fact that most of them have very unimaginative names (looking at you, https://lemmy.ml/ and https://lemmy.world/) doesn't help but as positive examples like https://beehaw.org and https://feddit.de. Both use Lemmy and can talk to any other Lemmy instance but their names make it clear that they are their own thing.

[–] leraje 4 points 2 years ago

Lemmy is a piece of software. Lemmy software is a link aggregator - same as reddit.

So you're signed up to an instance of Lemmy which is installed on the server at lemmy.ml - this means that the server you signed up to (lemmy.ml) is running a copy of the Lemmy software. Other servers also run the Lemmy software making them also instances of Lemmy. As well as you being able to talk to users in Communities on the lemmy.ml server, you can talk to users in Communities on other Lemmy instances. For example, I'm registered on the server at lemmy.world

KBin is also link aggregator software, just like Lemmy and Reddit. Same things apply there, same software on multiple servers, all able to talk with each other.

Mastodon software is a microblogging service - same as Twitter (and Threads). Just like instances of Lemmy, instances of Mastodon can talk to each other. So a user on mastodon.world can talk to (for example) a user on kolektiva.social which is also running the Mastodon software.

Plume is blogging software - like WordPress, but just like Lemmy and Mastodon, it can be installed on multiple servers, all of which can talk to each other.

There's also Pixelfed (Instagram), PeerTube (YouTube), Friendica (Facebook) and a large variety of others.

Now, as well as all these different types of software (Lemmy, Mastodon, KBin, PixelFed etc) being able to talk to other instances of the same software on other servers, because they are all underpinned by a single method of passing information called ActivityPub, each type of software can also talk to each other - so you as a Lemmy user can also see posts (like the one you and I are responding to) from a user on a server running an instance of Plume. Some people here are commenting from a Mastodon instance. All these things are loosely joined together making a joined (federated) universe - the fediverse.

[–] nydas 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Mastodon = Twitter Lemmy = kbin = Reddit

No idea what Plume is, but I may Google it once I post this.

Threads is Metas (Facebook parent company) attempt to grab a share of the Twitter market share as Elon does his best to decimate his company.

If I understand correctly, Threads uses the same/similar publication method as Lemmy or kbin or Mastodon so the data can be freely shared between them all. So in that sense, you could argue that Threads was just a Mastodon instance being run by a company that has shown little regard for its users, and far more regard for its profits.

Note: this is a very, over simplified view of the landscape that isn’t technically correct however is an attempt to convey a picture that helps put the pieces together in a somewhat relatable way.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

This is a good take, imo.

I never understood the privacy concerns. Well, I do insofar as it's safe to assume Meta is privacy-hostile. But many seem to think using Mastodon/Lemmy/etc. are some how "private" corners of the internet when they're anything but. It is very trivial for someone to access public data on fediverse sites as you've pointed out, and if they want that data they're going to get it.

The beauty of the fediverse is that we can choose who we trust with our core data, such as sign-up details, IP addresses, etc. Signing up to the Threads instance/app would be a disaster from a privacy perspective, but just treating them like any other server and taking advantage of the increased engagement from the content their large instance will post will likely increase content available on the fediverse and engagement across the board. Any decision to defederate with their instance(s) should purely be based on content and nothing more, imo. From a cross-server perspective, they're no different than any other large instance.

[–] xyzinferno 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Interesting take on the matter. Right now, I'm not sure which way I sway, since there's valid points on both sides. On one hand, I'd hate to tolerate Meta, and I don't doubt they have some plan for trying to bend and twist the Fediverse to suit their own interests. But on the other hand, as of right now, forcing them to play by the rules of the open source software we collectively use is leverage against Meta, and allows us to safely access their content without having to download their apps.

Definitely going to have to think on this a bit more, myself.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

It's a shame it isn't starting off federated. We should have taken hold of all of the discourse and aggressively maintained control from the outset

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