Meta/Instagram launched a new product called Threads today (working title project92). It adds a new interface for creating text posts and replying to them, using your Instagram account. Of note, Meta has stated that Threads plans to support ActivityPub in the future, and allow federation with ActivityPub services. If you actually look at your Threads profile page in the app your username has a threads.net tag next to it - presumably to support future federation.
Per the link, a number of fediverse communities are pledging to block any Meta-directed instances that should exist in the future. Thus instance content would not be federated to Meta instances, and Meta users would not be able to interact with instance content.
I’m curious what the opinions on this here are. I personally feel like Meta has shown time and time again that they are not very good citizens of the Internet; beyond concerns of an Eternal September triggered by federated Instagram, I worry that bringing their massive userbase to the fediverse would allow them to influence it to negative effect.
I also understand how that could be seen to go against the point of federated social media in the first place, and I’m eager to hear more opinions. What do you think?
While I’m generally opposed to defederation as a general rule, I’m also old enough to have suffered through Microsoft’s Embrace Extend Extinguish paradigm. Never again. Absolutely no federation with megacorp instances.
I think it’s more like the enshittification process.
At least, that’s how I read it. We’re currently at step 1 and I’m sure Meta is creative and greedy enough to make it all the way to step 3.
I guess the E.E.E. process will also be part of this, most likely after step 1 has been completed?