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Top-level
 There were rumours regarding payments from Meta to various instances, which are difficult to confirm or deny due to the NDAs. Could you set the record straight? Is Mastodon gGmbH receiving any funds from Meta or anyone connected to Meta? Will Mastodon gGmbH commit to never taking funds from Meta or anyone connected to Meta? 127 comments
How could there NOT be strings attached? Meta isn't a charity, it's a brutal corporation. When you become dependent on someone for money, you will want to avoid upsetting them. That could be terrible for a Fediverse project if the donor is Meta. @feditips @ThePlant @Mastodon I'm sorry but this is complete nonsense Microsoft used to play dirty against open source projects, but is now financing a ton of terrific open source projects Assuming that one day Meta changes the same way Microsoft changed, should Mastodon refuses this money like forever? Microsoft changed? What? π The same Microsoft that nowadays insists on spying on your computer? These are corporations, not charities. They do not have any genuine interest in anything except making money for their shareholders. Any company that carries out mass surveillance is not to be trusted. You can't compartmentalise that kind of behaviour away.  @feditips @ThePlant @Mastodon It's not to a literal economist that you will teach that companies aren't charities But under the correct set of incentives, the interest of companies can somewhat align with the interest of third parties that aren't their shareholders It's a very surprising move for Meta to support the Fediverse in the first place, which indicates that something evolved in their business calculus @pitbuster @feditips This is a patently false statement Their pivot toward open source date back to 2013-ish, way before they started to invest in AI @osc yeah, I was trolling on that one, I admit. But, they open source tools here and there, and how they actually contribute to the rest of the ecosystem? There are ton of "open source friendly" corporations that are still shit.  If Meta donated to Mastodon the same way anyone else does, it's not clear to me how it would even be possible for them to attach strings, given my general understanding of how non-profits work. Would it even be possible for Mastodon to receive funding from Meta through some mechanism other than a standard donation? @ThePlant @feditips @Mastodon Even without an explicit agreement, Mastodon could be reluctant to do anything to hurt Meta out of fear of losing the revenue stream - and that implicit threat can be useful to Meta if Mastodon starts to depend on that money. Lobbyists don't always make explicit demands to lawmakers, but it still influences politics. There doesn't need to be demands, just the thought that the money might disappear if they aren't friendly.  They're going to take funds to pay for the massive number of requests and commensurate bandwidth requirements imposed by federating with meta. If they don't, meta will simply send so many requests that the various instances will not be able to afford their bandwidth charges. It's block meta or death, the admins just think they're smart, so they can play with fire.  I'm not implying anything. I am curious why Mastodon's stance has changed so much in the past few years. I would like them to rule out that there's any financial connection. They used to have a very anti-corporate animation in 2018 which ended with a parody of Facebook and Twitter (https://fedi.video/w/m9L9gYXJypnywSyChQLxnd). This press statement doesn't feel like it fits in with that old Mastodon.  @feditips @alexpostfacto @catalyst You expect something substantive about... nothing existing? Nothing exists. He has told you. @ocdtrekkie @alexpostfacto @catalyst I mean it's not a substantive answer, because it wasn't really answering the question asked. It didn't deny meeting Meta. And "there is little to comment on until Meta's platform launches" is almost word for word what someone would say who has signed an NDA on an unreleased product. NDAs generally forbid commentary on upcoming products until after their launch. That's why I'm asking a direct question, in the hope of direct answers. @feditips @alexpostfacto @catalyst Why wouldn't someone meet with Meta? It would be stupid not to, because information is power. That doesn't mean there are any agreements, especially when he has said there are no agreements. I would imagine they, if they had nefarious plans, would be to encourage admins to move their instances to FB hosted servers, presumably running modified software, for a slice of ad revenue. Then start to be a bit picky about who they federate with, FB determining which instances get blocked for those in their pockets? Or maybe, and it is possible, they just want to give twitter a kicking? @feditips Can you stop using your huge platform to spread crazy misinformation? Like, nothing like this has ever been even close to substantiated, and these sorts of bull---- rumors are regularly scaring newer users who aren't versed in the latest fedi dramas enough to know the authors are making it up. This isn't misinformation, this is a request for information. Mastodon used to be emphatically anti-Facebook, now they're suddenly "this is no big deal". It would be nice if they could confirm this isn't due to any kind of payment. @feditips Okay, Tucker Carlson. Just asking questions, got it. Like seriously please step back and look at your behavior in light of your popularity here amongst newcomers. Take your conspiracies elsewhere.  @ocdtrekkie @feditips asking if something is true or false only after it's been proven true or false seems somewhat redundant... @bitflipped @feditips Eugen has already said it's false, see the link elsewhere in the thread. @bitflipped @feditips If there's no secret deals, and there are no non-secret deals... there are... no deals. @ocdtrekkie @feditips ok good, we have established that there are no deals. Now I'd like an answer to the question that @feditips asked. @bitflipped @feditips ...It's been answered already. The dude is running a company and writing the software and dealing with running like two servers under massive load. I imagine Eugen has better things to do than dance every time someone invents some conspiracy nonsense. @ocdtrekkie @feditips companies tend to need to deal with PR issues on occasion... He said "I'm not aware of any secret deals"... that is not the direct answer you're claiming. His attitude to funding seems to be that it is fine to take money from whoever as long as there are no direct strings attached: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/discussions/18759 That is what I am trying to ask, whether he has taken money from Meta the way he currently takes money from casinos. @feditips @ocdtrekkie agreed. I think it's safe to say that we are all greatful for the Mastodon project, but putting the rumours to bed would help quell the unease that a lot of people are feeling right now.  @feditips @Mastodon if you read to the end of that post, there's a big bold section calling for donations to Mastodon. Do you really think if (your conspiracy theory which has no basis in reality) Meta had sent monies anywhere that Mastodon would have included a "please!we need money so we can hire more people" call? This comment does nothing but soread fear, uncertainty and doubt; it's almost like you're working against the platforms you claim to be providing tips for. @thisismissem @feditips @Mastodon I'm not familiar with any registered non-profit orgs that say "Nah, we've got enough donations now, let's not ask for any more money" @bitflipped @feditips @Mastodon okay, but if they had received a huge sum of money, wouldn't you expect to see that money at work by hiring more people? You'd see them doing stuff with the money because they desperately needed money to continue to grow & maintain the software.  @feditips Iβve heard rumors regarding payments from Musk to various fediverse tip accounts to spread FUD about mastodon, which are difficult to confirm or deny. Could you set the record straight? @feditips @Mastodon wow, reading the comments here reminds me of being on twitter! Valid concern, good to ask the question. Ignore the ostriches critical of you for being concerned. "Charitable funding" and "bribing" are often the same thing with large corporations such as Meta. The recent news about the Lobbyists in the USA should remind us to always follow a money trail. Might be nothing at all of course, that would be the best outcome but a clear statement would be nice. |
Gregory's Server
@feditips @Mastodon why should they never commit to taking money, that they could use to directly help Mastodon? Unless thereβs bad demands attached, take the monies.