Skip to main content
oh, here's some JUICY rumored details about meta's plans for the fediverse

tl;dr "Meta will only federate with select larger instances from the beginning. There will be contracts which also provide for financial compensation for the instance owners."

can't entirely verify their validity but it's still worth posting just in case

#FediPact #barcelona #project92 #p92 #meta #facebook #fediverse #fediblockmeta #FediAdmin #MastoAdmin #threads
Louis @louis@emacs.ch You make some strong arguments here. It's great to see you laying out your reasoning in detail and with passion. theart: That's the spirit. What | have learned, however, is that Meta will only federate with select larger instances from the beginning. There will be contracts which also provide for financial compensation for the instance owners. Meta positions itself as a “savior’, because especially the big instances have a very strong financial pressure. Users take it for granted that someone else is paying for everything. In these contracts, Meta also specifies the rules regarding the moderation. Instances will have the option of allowing ads from Meta or not (with the benefit of additional compensation). Smaller instances will have the possibility to register for a federation with Meta in a second step, but there will be no financial compensation and Meta decides if they will grant access based on their reputation.
Regarding Meta, I'm in the industry for 25 years and have a few friends who worked at Meta from the early years until recently. One s stil there. Regarding UFol, | was part of the disussion at the time, we held a vote at Emacs.ch P R S But don' take this at face value, obvisouly these admins have to sign harsh NDAS. But it sounded very credible and | could not imagine it going any ther way. Examples of big instances (from Japan | believe?) show that the long-term burdens are simply unbearable and operators just wait for the right moment to e 1donot critizise Meta for their attempt to use the favor of the hour to their ‘advantage. As a public corporation its theijob to make proft. As I said, its not them who will decide the fate of the Fediverse. ‘Overworked/stressed out admins, high costs for infrastructure, ongoing disputes ‘and moderation challenges are what threaten the Fediverse. It was not meant to ‘9row o fast before we find common solutions for these issues. What do you think?
#fediverse #mastoAdmin #Facebook #meta #FediAdmin #Barcelona #threads #fediblockmeta #p92 #project92 #FediPact
Charles U. Farley
Charles U. Farley  
•
Hmm. Remember when I said maybe we could have more patience with instances that decide to federate? If they're receiving financial compensation, I take that back.

puffball: bespoke mode reshared this.

wb x64
wb x64  
•
the idea that someone would get as large as the big instances without asking for donations and mod help, just letting things schlep along until some undetermined payday or offramp, sends a shiver up my spine.

Then again my own server is just schlepping along, it just also doesn't allow signups...
Charles U. Farley
Charles U. Farley  
•
mastodon.social gets plenty of donations. It's getting paid to federate with Project 92 that would be the issue, if the rumor is true.
Charles U. Farley
Charles U. Farley  
•
If this is true, the strategy is "help the big instances grow even bigger & make them dependent on us." Presumably they'll next approach smaller instances that still federate with those instances with a similar deal (but probably with less money). At every step of the way, any part of the Fediverse that actually federates with them will also be dependent on them. It's a brilliant strategy right out of Google's playbook for owning the web by making all browser projects dependent on them.

puffball: bespoke mode reshared this.

MOVED vantablack@cyberpunk.lol
MOVED vantablack@cyberpunk.lol  
•
y'know if this is true that makes The Pact's mission easier actually

all we have to do is convince big instance admins to not sell out lol

The Jesting Ronin reshared this.

MOVED vantablack@cyberpunk.lol
MOVED vantablack@cyberpunk.lol  
•
like

i think it might be a bit easier

to get a handful of large instance admins on board with being against meta

rather than as much of the fediverse as possible lmao
Sven Slootweg
Sven Slootweg  
•
I don't know about that. The large instance admins became large instance admins for a reason; IME they tend to have a poor sense of community considerations.
Sven Slootweg
Sven Slootweg  
•
(Also, reading further at the source, their framing of the UFoI makes me strongly doubt they have the level of insight they claim to)
Sven Slootweg
Sven Slootweg  
•
Actually, let me elaborate on that a bit more: the UFoI *presented* itself as a "stronger together" union, but in reality it was an anti-defederation pact that was prompted by qoto folks trying to weasel their way out of FediBlocks through social pressure.

A number of admins fell for the facade, didn't investigate the backstory, and signed on believing it was a "stronger together" union; only to drop support once informed by other admins what the fineprint actually said.

The framing of this admin is *entirely* consistent with that facade; claiming that it would make the fediverse stronger against Meta, but it objectively would have done no such thing, the way it was defined.

I don't know whether they just fell for the grift, or whether they understand exactly what they're saying, but either way it makes me distrust their judgment of what has been said; they seem to value claims and promises over substance.
unlofl [Promoted Toot]
unlofl [Promoted Toot]  
•
ugh, I'd wondered about that. Step 1: make large instances financially dependent on zuck step 2: intertwine the social graphs step 3: do anything they want because you need us and your users will be mad if you defederate!

This is gonna be a one-sided relationship, and whatever zuck offers will be gradually withdrawn to shift costs back onto instances. It will be a little like streamers, over time the deal will get worse and worse for anyone except the biggest.
Rob Bos
Rob Bos  
•
Funding models are going to be key for larger instances. Being dependent on Facebook will be very tempting but will definitely fuck us all in the long term, it is unacceptable leverage.

Societies, coops, aggressive donation soliciting, formal nonprofits, all are going to be important. Fair compensation for labour also has to come into it. Large instances will have to be professionally managed, and that means expertise.
PJ Coffey
PJ Coffey  
•
Would it not be better to encourage a fundraising culture on instances so that they are self-supporting?

Openness about the costs of running it and the costs of supporting moderators in terms of therapy, administration, cycling them through, and even (whisper it) paying them?

Seems like this would be an easy carrot to go with the defed stick?

#MastodonFunding #Fedipact #ModerationIsWork
#moderationIsWork #FediPact #mastodonfunding
⇧