social.coop is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A Fediverse instance for people interested in cooperative and collective projects. If you are interested in joining our community, please apply at https://join.social.coop/registration-form.html.

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We're coming to the point where decentralized social media contains the only structures we're going to have left that aren't completely controlled by hard-right interests

The one centralized holdout is Bluesky, which means either that's going to need to be decentralized, or it's going to be the next right-wing target over this year probably

@cwebber @bassjobsen incredibly impressive. I used my screen reader and digested all of it while do some other work. This answers many of my thoughts and then some.
I was also surprised on your discussion of the BlueSky user name, handle, and keys. I don’t think people are even contemplating this as they scramble for replacements of Twitter/X, Facebook/Meta, or TikTok/Byte Dance, etc.
As a GenXer and heritage Silicon Valley resident, I’ve realized the potential of the Fediverse and its global implications. I’ve become a huge advocate.
Still, there’s still lots of education needed on what a free Internet and democratic access truly means. This is a shocking realization when the majority of Americans are screaming “I want my TikTok” (like MTV years ago), and yet relative to everything else that’s happening. It’s frustrating.

@cwebber @bassjobsen it’s also my understanding that BlueSky’s proprietary AT Protocol positions it as a potential disruptor in social networking, offering scalability and interoperability, but its centralized development and corporate control risk creating a protocol monopoly if widely adopted. Unlike the Fediverse, which uses open standards like ActivityPub to foster true decentralization, BlueSky’s model could lead to selective interoperability, gatekeeping, and challenges to smaller platforms’ independence. While its centralization provides stability and consistent updates, it makes BlueSky more vulnerable to government regulation, censorship, and monopolistic practices, akin to Facebook or Google.

@cwebber @bassjobsen In contrast, Mastodon and the Fediverse’s decentralized ecosystem offers greater resilience to censorship and monopolization but faces fragmentation risks due to inconsistent updates and adoption. Ultimately, BlueSky’s dominance could threaten the open, distributed ethos of the Fediverse, forcing a critical choice between adopting a centralized “open” protocol or doubling down on true decentralization, with significant implications for global access, innovation, and regulation.