this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2023
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These are the privacy permissions that you grant for Meta's new twitter competitor (yiffit.net)
submitted 1 year ago by Wander@yiffit.net to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Yikes.

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[–] clara@feddit.uk 122 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

this is why

there is a very good chance that this project by meta is the thin end of the wedge

(edited to include "the blogpost", link here)

[–] RaincoatsGeorge@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago

Interesting and I'd say you're right. If you were to see a mass adoption of the fediverse (such as Twitter imploding and mastadon becoming the replacement) there would be an immediate attempt by the big tech players to gain control of it in some way. And this is exactly how they would try to do it.

[–] finder585@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Also here is a blog post about how Google killed the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) using extend, embrace, extinguish.

[–] SulaymanF@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (5 children)

What’s the alternative? They go with a non activity pub system and woo away all our users anyway?

[–] lich_hegemon@lemmy.world 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If people want to crawl back into Meta's clutches I'm not going to stop them. Don't give the one nice thing we have to a corporation that only wants to exploit us.

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 22 points 1 year ago

Are you telling me this perfectly human looking human shouldn't be trusted? Are you telling me this perfectly human looking human shouldn't be trusted?

[–] clara@feddit.uk 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

realistically, yes :(

opinion time: not everything has to be about fast/unsustainable growth, in the pursuit of profit. i would prefer that the fediverse grows organically, and entices quality users, posters and commenters to join based on the merits of the service, and not on it's access to inflated VC budgets, huge advertising campaigns, and exploitation of a first-mover advantage.

facebook/meta will slay us, because we are a threat to it's profit model. why are we even contemplating negotiations with a tiger while we have our head in it's mouth? it beggars belief...

[–] Lemmino@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel like there's no winning if you're a dev at one of these companies. Go with a centralized protocol, you get shit for creating a walled garden. Take part in federation, and people give you shit for that too. I think it's genuinely amazing that we are seeing engineers that have made some of the most fundamental software that the internet runs on dip their toes into federation.

[–] clara@feddit.uk 4 points 1 year ago

i don't blame the devs, in the same way that you can't blame a cog in a machine. it's the machine that i'm complaining at here, not the devs

historically, big tech companies have exploited their dominant position to snuff out federated protocols in the past. why would they suddenly choose to take a sweet tone to fediverse/activitypub now?

meta has a few options here for Threads, i will list some routes:

  1. co-operate fully with activitypub forever and ever, always in alignment with activitypub protocol, always does the right/moral thing, makes a meager profit and growth for doing so
  2. all of option 1, but then after building up user lock-in and momentum, then start adding "meta-net" exclusive features to entice users to instances under their control. wait patiently until dominant market share established, and then stop federating outside of meta-net, to force non users to switch over. make a bigger profit and growth.
  3. all of option 2, but also compete with fediverse using the strength of it's inherited capital from meta, to gain market share quickly. bribe and buyout instances to join meta-net through sheer weight of money, send frivolous lawsuits/dmca to crush the dissenters. astroturf comment sections on non-meta instances to sway public opinion. harvest all data from activitypub to keep shadow accounts on non meta-net AP users. make even bigger profit and growth

the machine is obviously going to take option 3 here. i feel sorry for the devs, who know full well that what they make can and will be used in this way.

[–] TravelsInObscurity@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Who cares? I’d rather they stay away from here anyways.

[–] damnYouSun@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

Is there a fediverse version of Facebook?

Very roughly,
Lemmy and Kbin = Reddit
Masterson = Twitter

So what equals Facebook

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I think Diaspora* is the federated FB alternative There was also a crypto backed and "freeze peach absolutist" alternative, Minds, dunno how that one's going

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Oh jeez Someone wanting more free speech than Facebook yikes

[–] Risk@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Presumably Facebook's move into ActivityPub is to prevent or limit users moving to a decentralised alternative to Facebook?

[–] devfuuu@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Diaspora as said was it long ago. Nowadays I guess the Movim project based on xmpp can give and experience similar to it.

[–] devfuuu@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Diaspora as said was it long ago. Nowadays I guess the Movim project based on xmpp can give and experience similar to it.

[–] devfuuu@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Diaspora as said was it long ago. Nowadays I guess the Movim project based on xmpp can give and experience similar to it.

[–] Risk@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Presumably Facebook's move into ActivityPub is to prevent or limit users moving to a decentralised alternative to Facebook?