@davidt @woe2you @fedi @aral @nicolasvivant

"I am not convinced social media in any form (including this) is healthy for humans."

Ah well that's another issue, I'd tend to agree with you on that one. It is maybe an even more difficult problem to solve!

@davidt @fedi @aral @nicolasvivant @pluralistic

The telephone network is decentralised, as is the email network and the postal network. When it existed, the telegraph networks were also decentralised. You don't need one corporation controlling everything for global networks to connect together.

Even Facebook and Google used to use a decentralised messaging standard called XMPP that allowed people outside the network to message their members, but they decided to abandon this for commercial reasons. Goverments could have easily forced them to continue.

@davidt @fedi @aral @nicolasvivant

The incentives for VCs are all wrong on social media and internet services, the ownership structure inevitably leads to "enshittification" as @pluralistic has documented in great detail.

They provide a wonderful service to hook people in, then once people are locked in they degrade the service to the point where it's much worse and more expensive than the original alternatives.

We don't need VCs to be controlling things, they misuse that control.

@davidt @fedi @aral @nicolasvivant

The purpose of connecting people isn't to make money, it's to provide vital infrastructure.

VCs are the wrong vehicle for vital infrastructure.

Look at the sheer scale of electoral interference through Meta and Twitter/X. Musk especially is using Twitter/X to promote fascists.

These are failures, they are failing society and even getting people killed ( https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/dec/06/rohingya-sue-facebook-myanmar-genocide-us-uk-legal-action-social-media-violence ).

"I don't think governments and institutions have the risk appetite for stuff like this. "

The costs of building something like the Fediverse are absolutely tiny (some prices for scale: https://masto.host/pricing ).

@davidt @fedi @aral @nicolasvivant

No, we want European infrastructure to be controlled by ordinary Europeans, not multinational corporations.

VC startups are only set up to be sold out to the highest bidder, which is usually outside Europe. VCs don't care what happens to their startup, they just want to sell out and get the money.

Other problems with W are:
-They're using fascist phrases and clothing
-They're erasing Mastodon from history
-They're centralised with all the problems that brings (list of them at https://fedi.tips/why-is-the-fediverse-on-so-many-separate-servers/ ).

@fedi @aral @nicolasvivant

They're fascists then? Surely that's what the hat means?