What’s Meta up to?

  1. Embrace ActivityPub, , Mastodon, and the fediverse

  2. Extend ActivityPub, Mastodon, and the fediverse with a very-usable app that provides additional functionality (initially the ability to follow everybody you’re following on Instagram, and to communicate with all Threads users) that isn’t available to the rest of the fediverse – as well over time providing additional services and introducing incompatibilities and non-standard improvements to the protocol

  3. Exploit ActivityPub, Mastodon, and the fediverse by utilizing them for profit – and also using them selfishly for Meta’s own ends

Since the fediverse is so much smaller than Threads, the most obvious ways of exploiting it – such as stealing market share by getting people currently in the fediverse to move to Threads – aren’t going to work. But exploitation is one of Meta’s core competences, and once you start to look at it with that lens, it’s easy to see some of the ways even their initial announcement and tiny first steps are exploiting the fediverse: making Threads feel like a more compelling platform, and reshaping regulation. Longer term, it’s a great opportunity for Meta to explore – and maybe invest in – shifting their business model to decentralized surveillance capitalism.

  • thenexusofprivacy@lemmy.worldOP
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    10 months ago

    Thanks for the feedback! You really don’t think Evan’s influential in the fediverse?

    They conclude that their (obvious!) goal is to be completely untrustworthy while giving people the false belief that they’re trustworthy. And the evidence? It’s all in the quote!

    No, I’m not saying their goal is to be completely untrustworthy. It’s a means to an end. And the evidence for them being completely untrustworthy isn’t the quote, it’s Facebook, Instagram, and Meta’s long history of being completely untrustworthy. I wrote about this in Wait a second. Why should anybody trust Facebook, Instagram, or Meta?. Do you trust them?

    It’s “already clear that people won’t be able to move all their followers to other fediverse servers.” Why?

    Good question, I edited the article to clarify:

    if somebody’s following you on Threads but hasn’t opted in to federation, then when you move to an instance in the real fediverse they won’t be following you any more.

    Trusting someone like Alex Jones with the core of their business model? Riiiiight.

    Yeah really, it’s not like they every trusted Steve Bannon and Cambridge Analytica … oh wait, they did.

    Anyhow it’s not the core of their business model. The core of their business model is harvesting data and using it to sell and target ads (and sell other stuff), Alex Jones is just one more channel to leverage.

    Even if Ron DeSantis had his own Meta-sponsored instance, everyone could just block it.

    You really think most Republicans would block it?

    • SulaymanF@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Their goal is to be profitable. Whether that means embracing standards for good PR or fighting standards if it benefits them, it doesn’t matter. Money matters.

    • breakfastmtn@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      Firstly, I didn’t realize this was your article. This is probably a good reminder that every article is someone’s article. I wish my tone and wording had been a bit less caustic, so apologies for being a bit of a dick in my comment and thanks for your thoughtful reply.

      I think Evan’s influential, but it seems dismissive to call him an “influencer” without acknowledging his relationship to the Fediverse. His influence is earned, but the term often carries a negative connotation and is occasionally used as a pejorative. Although based on your reply, that doesn’t seem like it was your intention.

      No, I’m not saying their goal is to be completely untrustworthy. It’s a means to an end. And the evidence for them being completely untrustworthy isn’t the quote, it’s Facebook, Instagram, and Meta’s long history of being completely untrustworthy. I wrote about this in Wait a second. Why should anybody trust Facebook, Instagram, or Meta?. Do you trust them?

      I think the story of their public statements is that they’ve said everything you’d hope to hear. I’ve seen many takes that they somehow betray a hidden agenda, and that seems wrong at the very least. They undoubtedly have a bad past. Contrasting those statements with their history is obviously valid, as is analyzing them in relation to their business interests. Being skeptical or suspicious of their motivations is understandable. If they had the purest of intentions, the quotes would be the same though.

      Do I trust Meta? No! I don’t use their platforms because I don’t trust them. I have an old Facebook account I don’t use, but would treat as the white pages if I ever did. And I have an extension to trap them in a sandbox if that need ever arises. I left Instagram for Pixelfed, and I’m exclusively on the Fediverse. I have no intention of leaving for any for-profit service. I don’t think I have to trust them or that they have to be trustworthy to their users to keep them from destroying the Fediverse though. I think the worst case is that we end up exactly where we are now, which is fine. I’m happy here now!

      Good question, I edited the article to clarify:

      I completely agree that it could cause problems with moving your account if the default is opt-in. I think it’s also important to note that they’ve only said that they’re not sure what the default will be. That could be bad intentions, but it could also be for good faith reasons. For example, it could just be concern about their users. I doubt they haven’t noticed the civil war that breaks out here every time there’s an announcement about Threads. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re waiting to see whether their users experience a tidal wave of harassment from this side. I also wouldn’t be surprised if they did. On our side, it wouldn’t surprise me if many admins end up defederating because it’s just too much work to moderate content from the Threads side even if they don’t have bad intentions.

      Yeah really, it’s not like they every trusted Steve Bannon and Cambridge Analytica … oh wait, they did.

      That’s apples and oranges though. They gave them data Meta had collected. The Meta-Fediverse would have them directly responsible for data collection. So they would need to admin those instances or trust that the admins wouldn’t tamper with that data. If the data were tampered with, it could seriously damage their core business model. It would poison their user tracking and they’d be less able to sell (the myth of) surgical market segmentation. It seems far less risky to be a good actor in the Fediverse to keep regulators off their back and continue to harvest vast quantities of granular tracking data from their own server. That seems especially true in light of Cambridge Analytica where they were savaged internationally for being unbelievably reckless irresponsible with the data they held.

      Even if there are numerous instances collecting data for them, they could still only get publicly available data from non-Threads Fediverse users. If they do want that, setting up an instance is way more inefficient and expensive than just scraping it from servers.

      You really think most Republicans would block it?

      No, but I don’t think that puts us in a different place than we are now. There are “free speech” instances that don’t defederate for any reason. They can’t force you to see or engage with anything and will never be able to. We’re not really surrendering any control to them.