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Eugen Rochko

I think it's going to be more important than ever that #Mastodon and the #fediverse are not centrally operated out of the US unlike almost every other social media platform out there.

167 comments
Toni Aittoniemi

@Gargron 100% agree. US stands a good chance of becoming much more oligarchic under Trump, with politics starting to seep into how the company leaders operate.

They won’t call it that obviously, because they’ll be oblivious to it. But politics it will be regardless.

They’ll call it business, but it will be politics agreed to in back rooms instead of government corridors.

Strypey

@gimulnautti
> US stands a good chance of becoming much more oligarchic under Trump, with politics starting to seep into how the company leaders operate

Both the GoP and the DataFarmers have been looking with approval at the close relationship between the CCP and TenCent, ByteDance, Weibo, Baidu etc. The GoP because they imagine themselves being in charge of the DataFarms, like the CCP are in charge of theirs. The DataFarmers because they know in the US it's the other way around ...

@Gargron

@gimulnautti
> US stands a good chance of becoming much more oligarchic under Trump, with politics starting to seep into how the company leaders operate

Both the GoP and the DataFarmers have been looking with approval at the close relationship between the CCP and TenCent, ByteDance, Weibo, Baidu etc. The GoP because they imagine themselves being in charge of the DataFarms, like the CCP are in charge of theirs. The DataFarmers because they know in the US it's the other way around ...

8Petros [Signal: Petros.63]
with politics starting to seep into how the company leaders operate

Always has been.

thibault

@Gargron Yeah so please block out Threads

Paul Schoonhoven πŸ‰ πŸ‹

@thibault I think it is a good thing that that is done on server level so people have a choice.
If Mastodon wants to play a serious role in the social media landscape things are a little bit more complicated as black&white.
@Gargron

Ben Royce πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

@vosje62 @thibault @Gargron

i think it's pretty black and white that threads is the same company whose algos got us into this mess

i think anyone who sees working with meta as benign is naive, at best

and i think mastodon not blocking threads is deeply unserious

you don't get "to play a serious role" serving the very same malice that mastodon was created to oppose

you get laughed at and then discarded

Steve Barnes

@benroyce, @vosje62, @thibault –

But you didn't respond to Paul's point. Wasn't the whole point of Mastodon to provide an *alternative* client for an *open* network that no individual or company needs permission to use, allowing for a plurality of values and policies across instances?

By all means, pick an inherently walled technology if that's what you want, but asking Mastodon to be that seems like asking Mastodon not to be Mastodon.

Ben Royce πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

@Starfia @vosje62 @thibault

I think at this point we're well past the "if you don't let plutocrats and nazis on your network you're a hypocrite" argument, wouldn't you agree?

Freedom doesn't mean letting actors who oppose freedom free reign- a logically sound point. There is no contradiction

Because we're talking about a social contract

I grant you as much rights as I grant myself

If you use those rights to say someone doesn't deserve rights, you've voided the contract and I owe you nothing

Paul Schoonhoven πŸ‰ πŸ‹

@Starfia I think you are right. The open structure is the basics of the system. So far there are enough 'unwanted servers' around that don't get federated. With Threads it is not different.

- Both servers and individuals can set the bounderies they want. -
(that is why the options are there!)

That's is how it works for all parties.

@benroyce @thibault

Ben Royce πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

@vosje62 @Starfia @thibault but more importantly that subset of servers that does block all of dark fedi and threads and bluesky and gab and truth social, etc, are those servers expressing the freedom of the network the best

because you fail to comprehend the threat plutocrat, bigoted, and fascist actors represent to the freedom of the network

BjoernAusGE

@benroyce such opinions show how good it is that everybody can host a fediverse (not only Mastodon) server itself. So no admin can censor the network for me because he/she thinks that there is a dark fediweb e.g.

That makes the fediverse a great network.

@vosje62 @Starfia @thibault

Ben Royce πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

@bjoern @vosje62 @Starfia @thibault

agreed

someone can make any network they want

any rules they want

but if their rules suck (bigotry, etc), they're relegated to obscurity

as they should be

we simply let the pieces fall where they may, and we stop pretending bigotry and tolerance can coexist

they can't

BjoernAusGE

@benroyce

Beeing honest: i dont like it when users put pressure on admins of big instances to block other whole instances because they dont like the way they operate, or because they belong to companys like Meta etc. Its something totally different if admins block instances that are legally problematic.

If somebody does not like that fact that eg mastodon.social federates with Bluesky etc. he/she is free to block the mentionings for themselfs, switch to another Mastodon Instance with a different block policy or to run an own fediverse server.

The fediverse has that possibilities which you dont have when using x etc

From my point of view that is way better than to censor the network for all other users on the server.


@vosje62 @Starfia @thibault

@benroyce

Beeing honest: i dont like it when users put pressure on admins of big instances to block other whole instances because they dont like the way they operate, or because they belong to companys like Meta etc. Its something totally different if admins block instances that are legally problematic.

If somebody does not like that fact that eg mastodon.social federates with Bluesky etc. he/she is free to block the mentionings for themselfs, switch to another Mastodon Instance with a different...

Ben Royce πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

@bjoern @vosje62 @Starfia @thibault

nothing you said disagrees with anything i said

a mastodonserverpact+ that says no to threads and bluesky doesn't mean you have to join it. it also doesn't mean servers aren't willing to join the + pact of their own free will. this is voluntary, coordinated group action

if it is appealing enough along with other provisions in the + pact it will grow and be successful

and, forgive my directness: who gives a shit if someone doesn't like it

it's voluntary

hajovonta

@thibault you can certainly block it for your account, I did.

@Gargron

Martijn πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡³πŸ‡±

@hajovonta @thibault @Gargron You can block out all of Threads in one go from your own account? How?

noodlejetski :verified_gay:

@chaosmonkey @hajovonta @thibault @Gargron find a Threads account (like @zuck), open the menu you'd normally do if you wanted to block an account, and pick "Block domain threads.net".

Martijn πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡³πŸ‡±

@noodlejetski @hajovonta @thibault @Gargron @zuck Cool! That works, thanks! I had to use the #Mastodon app because apparently #Tusky doesn't have that option.

Mr. Lance E Sloan (Personal)

@noodlejetski
It's very tempting, but there are a few good accounts on threads. "@potus@threads.net", for example, at least until 20 Jan 2025.

hajovonta

@sloanlance
I'm not here to read statements from accounts with very high follower count. I'm here for conversations or exchange of ideas.

But of course, ymmv.

@noodlejetski

Emil Jacobs - Collectifission

@thibault @Gargron
Gargron: "it's important that we're not centrally operated"
You: "ok, so make this decision, centrally, that will affect every user"

You might have missed the point here.

Ben Royce πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

@collectifission @thibault @Gargron

i think thibault is only asking eugen to block threads from mastodon.social

Fred Rocha

@Gargron blatantly clear, man. Keep up the good work!

Atha Ahuluheluw

@Gargron I actually find solace in the fact that I'm here in a safe place. So thanks for all your hard work.

Gary "grim" Kramlich

@Gargron yay thinking I might prioritize a mastodon and/or general activity pub plugin in @pidgin now...

Cyan o Ramphus
@grimmy@pidgin@Gargron "activity pub" please, fediverse is more than mastodon clients.
vruz

@Gargron

It is central that you do not involve any American citizens in the board of directors too.

Eugen Rochko

@vruz The board of the 501c3 does not have any legal power over the German entity which holds all the assets. This is a concern I've already had in mind.

vruz

@Gargron

I can obviously imagine the concern has crossed your mind, but the idea that the German legal system can stop an insider attack seems not very well thought out.

Eugen Rochko

@vruz I'll repeat, separate entity. They're not "inside"--except as trusted advisors and mentors.

Morgan

@vruz @Gargron at that point it just seems discriminatory... US citizens are oppressed by systems and billionaires. Most of us didn't vote for Trump (he won through voter suppression and interference from the rich and powerful), and most of us don't have the power nor the desire to exploit that the 1% owners of centralized social media have. We need help, not isolation.

vruz

@raphaelmorgan @Gargron

Utter imperialist nonsense. The privileges of a few American individuals are not above the need of the rest of the world to maintain reliable means of communication and socialisation.

It is discriminatory, with good reason. Take a look around you.

It is because of shit like this that what is happening happens.

Parade du Grotesque πŸ’€

@Gargron

You took money from Facebook - that ship has sailed.

Parade du Grotesque πŸ’€

@Gargron

Into your complete and utter irrelevance.

Your instance accept anyone, even the worst spammers, and your little behind-the-scene backroom deals with FB and friends are fooling no one.

You have my respect fro writing something usable and useful but it is way past its due-date.

Eugen Rochko

@ParadeGrotesque No, where have I taken any money from Facebook? Care to back it up?

Nevarro

@Gargron I hate it when I read β€žTwitter/X has become so bad, now go use Blueskyβ€œ. No, Bluesky is not the solution, it’s (going to be) a part of the problem.

fr0g

@nevarro @Gargron

I don't think it's entirely certain/predictable which direction Bluesky will go. But that uncertainty alone is reason enough to support a platform that got the foundations right from the get-go imo.

Davey

@Gargron hang on, aren't you the boy that said it was a Big W that people can follow the US president from Fedi?

Eugen Rochko

@davey_cakes I am for interoperability. That is the underlying principle of the fediverse and how all the Mastodon and non-Mastodon platforms on the fediverse talk to each other.

Davey

@Gargron well I would politely suggest that standards of conduct and safety are going to mean more to people than interoperability over the next while.

Perhaps now is a good time to address how to make the out-of-the-box Mastodon experience one where people aren't exposed to white nationalists by default.

You have a chance to do something.

Davey

@Gargron more explicitly - Mastodon the company should start directly alerting people to which servers they REALLY need to think about blocking, and needs to do it at the install stage, and afterwards as routine.

Eugen Rochko

@davey_cakes Improving the moderation experience by allowing admins to subscribe to shared blocklists is something we're planning for our next release, 4.4.

Davey

@Gargron I'm aware, but is that largely streamlining an existing practice which people still need to be here a while to understand?

I've used shared blocklists.

I'd like the company to explicitly direct people to block lists of known problem servers, will that happen?

Will we move beyond the likelihood of what happened the DAIR server happening again, where people join Fedi on the promise of how progressive it is, and get put on blast by neonazis?

"Oh we all have them blocked, do you not?"

whereami

@davey_cakes those two statements are not contradictory…

Scott M. Stolz
@Eugen Rochko It is good to have servers all over the world, but more and more countries are trying to censor social media. It's not just the United States. Right now they are targeting big social media worldwide, but I would not be surprised if they try and come after us too eventually. Free speech gives us power, and advocates of censorship don't like that.
JustRosy

@Gargron Agree on that. At least after January 19, 2025.

inquiline

@Gargron However, and I mean this respectfully, maybe you should prioritize safety features for racialized and minoritized people now?

Steve

@Gargron @GossiTheDog yup! Been running my own personal instance a while now

GeekMiki

@Gargron That should have been a given the day a certain person took over Twitter.
But yes, more than ever let's advocate for the #fediverse and #mastodon

Dmian

@Gargron My current minimum standard is: I don’t get on a platform if it can’t federate. ActivityPub is here to stay.

x - Chad :CApride:

@Gargron We're here and welcoming to any and all people who identify themselves from north of the 49th parallel (and south for Ontario) on Turtle Island.

If folks who identify as such but are abroad and want to join but are being blocked, please email us at hello@mstdn.ca and we'll make it right.

Mary Hilton for Harris

@Gargron I've signed up with Univesedon because I like having backups.This instance was down for about 2 hours..I hope it's not a portent of what is going to happen.

nlupo

@Gargron I don't believe the people in the so called US are free, but even if you are not like me, you still should not put your eggs in one basket.

Strght

@Gargron

Of course.

It’s also even more necessary to keep out the surveillance networks like Thread and Reddit.

Looking ahead more publicly funded instances might be helpful to grow the reach and volume of relevant content.

Steve 史蒂倫 πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²

@Gargron Especially now that Chump is going to get to play President again and hand everything over to his rich friends, I think it's imperative that Mastodon plays a more active outreach role / PR to actively pull users away from BookFace, Shitter and the likes. Maybe some high profile partnerships with other like-minded orgs to actively promote their fediposts? All the FOSS / GNU / open society types of orgs should commit to making it their primary source, while only posting links on other platforms and their websites to their fedi-posts. Elon Musk needs to dread his decision to buy Shitter, and Troth Sential stock values need to tank to penny stocks. I haven't used Insta, Snap or TikTok to really know whether or not I'd hate them, but their ownership and control are problematic enough to relegate them "to the dustbins of history".

@Gargron Especially now that Chump is going to get to play President again and hand everything over to his rich friends, I think it's imperative that Mastodon plays a more active outreach role / PR to actively pull users away from BookFace, Shitter and the likes. Maybe some high profile partnerships with other like-minded orgs to actively promote their fediposts? All the FOSS / GNU / open society types of orgs should commit to making it their primary source, while only posting links on other platforms...

lambalicious

Going by some incidents with Protonmail, Switzerland is known to collaborate with anti-environmentalists and fascists.

Pedro Machado Santa

@Gargron I agree. Still, what's the matter with Social Web Foundation? Honest question.

I see all these dubious companies over there. What's the game plan to have them (and their agendas) on the party?

Dutch Investor

@Gargron Thanks Eugen for sharing this vision. However, I think there is a mighty lot of work to do making Mastodon more accessible to average users

RÒu Cao ⚑

@Gargron Or the EU for that matter. Or any single jurisdiction really.

Scott M. Stolz
@RÒu Cao ⚑ I'm still looking for a friendly jurisdiction, and every country I have looked at is becoming more and more bureaucratic and more restrictive. Despite attempts to censor or suppress people's free speech in the United States, it still has some of the best protections for free speech and free association worldwide.
Possumantha

@Gargron Get yourself a thumb drive and download tails for a start. tails.net/

Aloniaxx

@Gargron It will only become an important alternative when discussions can be more open, and the massiv elephants in the room are properly addressed.

Mitex Leo

@Gargron Couldn't agree more. US is not the only country on earth.

John Macgregor

@Gargron tho to be entirely fair, it's been the Democrats who have driven the recent all-of-government censorship project. The Trumpists & non-Democrat lefties have been the chief victims.

Christopher Manning

@Gargron I'm new here, but yeah the landscape seems totally different. Definitely important

Gondor

@Gargron Just never forget: the headquarter of #ICANN is situated in Los Angeles, California

Kristoffer Lawson

@Gargron this is important. Very important. However, as this election has shown, the 'negative choice' is not enough. #Mastodon needs to be the positive choice. With features, innovations and services that go beyond what others are offering, and entice people to come and to stay.

Of course that's not just up to you or the GmbH, but the things people create around this. But you can help in setting the culture, and creating joy in the core apps and services.

hicksy2

@Gargron never been prouder to have been off that place than today

Charles U. Farley

@Gargron Glad to hear you're gonna stop accepting new registrations on your centrally administered mega-instances.

Aurochs

@Gargron But mastodon inc is registered in the USA, ain't it?

zeitverschreib [friendica]

@aurochs

Sure, as a non-profit.

Mastodon gGmbH is located and registered in Germany.

@Gargron

Dan Morgan :ksu:

@Gargron I deleted all my other social media apps to keep me mentally healthy. Keep up the good work.

I really feel like we’re going go be under siege here in the US, but I’m more worried about the Ukrainian people this morning. Europe, I’m sorry. πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

Stefan Urbat

@Gargron yes, BlueSky seems doomed now to be honest

Raccoon at TechHub for Harris

@Gargron
Yeah, this is what I was saying a few days ago. TechHub will likely be moving our server to Canada, but I worry about the smaller servers run by a single person in the US, where that might not be an option.

James Veitch

@Gargron my thoughts exactly. More of this please. Let’s try and scoop out at least some of the firmament that allowed this to happen

Androcat

@Gargron Next, can we have a version that is encrypted?

(activitypub nerds, stand down, it's a joke, I don't need a lecture on why that is impossible)

DELETED

@Gargron Agreed! Glad I fully made the move to be federated.

Luca da Firenze

@Gargron

absolutely
Mastodont and the Fediverse must be centrally operated out from US
this free media platform will not last long in US now

Murielle GuèreBère

@Gargron and maybe all the instances should block thread.

EarthMomma

@Gargron

I think it's going to be more important than ever that HUMANS are not centrally operated out of the US unlike almost every other social media platform out there.

Cyan o Ramphus
@Gargron@EugeneMcParland
Now, it may be matching in actual events to centralize the reasoning on USA, but USA is not special in this context, every centralized approach - independantly where/how - will sooner or later evolve into a suppressing of views or conceps not sattisfying the drivers of the central control point.
And this is not dependent on the type of centralized control. Whether political or commercial, it will always come down to this; with commercially centralized systems being even more dangerous, as moral concepts are more likely to be reflected in political than in commercial tools.
@Gargron@EugeneMcParland
Now, it may be matching in actual events to centralize the reasoning on USA, but USA is not special in this context, every centralized approach - independantly where/how - will sooner or later evolve into a suppressing of views or conceps not sattisfying the drivers of the central control point.
patricus

@Gargron so, force more people out of your instances, there's too much of people on mastodon.social and mastodon.online

patricus

@Gargron just ask them to leave and get them a different one

Spooky Guy

@Gargron they’re gonna ban any apps not located in the US. The walled garden is getting taller walls.

Stu

@Gargron Couldn't hurt to work on encryption, while we're at it.

n8chz β’Άβ’Ί

@gargron
I agree, although I'd like it to also have an aggressively anticommercial posture. Just sayin

nicdex πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

@Gargron Yeah, I'm moving TechHub back to Canada. It's going to be PITA, but it needs to be done.

Brandon Haber

@nicdex Good to know, and thank you for everything you do.

Piousunyn

@Gargron Possibility #fediverse will be banned in the U.S. now, or used to attack people of difference and different opinions, from the Nazi ones.

Martin Be

@Gargron What difference does it makes if the private messages here aren't still encrypted and can be accessed by the 3-letter US organizations as they wish even without your knowledge?
They can harvest anything, any data about anyone they want from here and we all know exactly that something like this is possible. The weakest link is always the human. And if your moderators can read them, so can anyone else. Accidentally and on purpose. Even forcefully. That's pretty obvious. So.. you know.

vlakicas

@Gargron In US the answer is only US $. ✍️

Stefan LaserπŸ—œοΈ

@gargron Thanks to all of us for doing this important work, not always agreeing on everything but still pushing this forward

streetcoder

@Gargron Yes, would be great to have a Mastodon server App readily available in e.g. a kitchen self hosted #freedombox or #uberspace lab guide lab.uberspace.de/

I'm still looking for the quickest and cheapest way for hosting a family instance.

Matrix, Mumble and XMPP are already running well. Next is Fediverse Goto Social or Mastodon or similar.

ayo

@Gargron that’s not even possible right?

LiquidParasyte

@Gargron please, please, please work with your peers in the Fediverse software space to prioritize nomadic identity migration and instance/domain migration

Being able to move to a new instance while retaining the post history is going to be crucial in the coming times.

LiquidParasyte

@Gargron also of import is to prioritize moderation and safety features as well as e2ee messaging.

It's a lot to ask for, but our community needs to actively work towards it yesterday.

slyborg

@Gargron One of the reasons I have an account with #Vivaldi Social is their Icelandic hosting.

Wyatt H Knott

@Gargron One of the BIG things I like about Mastodon is that the host is subject to German laws. As a Jew this has given me some feeling of safety to post here. Thank you.

Which reminds me I probably ought to renew my donation.

wendy boucek for Kamala

@Gargron Happy my instance isn’t federated w meta or bsky.

Sharon πŸ€¦πŸΎβ€β™€οΈ for Harris

@Gargron Exactly why I selected a Netherlands-based instance when I joined #Mastodon back in late 2022.

milkman

@Gargron
I think that's logical, sensible and very, very sad.

Aphrodite β˜‘οΈ :boost_ok:

@Gargron At the same time, Meta is getting its hooks deep into this system, and how long until they move to the end of the embrace - extend - exclude - extinguish path they’ve followed for two damned decades?

eden110

@Gargron funny (or maybe not funny?) enough, that's one of the reasons I'm dipping my toes into Mastodon. So far, I'm liking the vibes. πŸ˜€

mhoye

@Gargron While I agree with this, it might also be time to move the work prioritizing federated safety and collective protection to the front of the queue.

Chuck Miller

@Gargron All I can say right now is that I shut down my Twitter account this morning. Basically I made it private, logged off, and "forgot the password" so that nobody can use my old name as a spambot. I'm staying here on Mastodon, and will follow back all who follow me.

Tyler C.

@Gargron Yes, everyone needs to get the f**k off Threads, Bluesky, FB, and X/Twitter. These sites can be powerful tools for organizing, but the oligarchy is in full force right now and all the owners of those sites are part of that system. Mastodon is the only means of organizing that is not centrally owned.

Servelan

@Gargron One thing I would like to see is a default block of hate and bigotry, something that users can choose to implement or not, something configurable. Or at least up front info on how-to.

New folks need a wee bit more hand-holding and not the assumption that they 'just know' how to navigate the #fediverse, and being able to preemptively block things (or at least be given the knowledge on how to *when they join*) would save vulnerable people a lot of grief.

Jcrabapple

@Gargron @trixter is there any way to run an instance anonymously?

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