Meta Coming To The Fediverse
Threads
Meta aka Facebook aka Instagram is launching a new app and service today called Threads.
The web version of the service may already be live. It loaded for me in Edge but not in Firefox, your mileage may vary. The smartphone apps will be available for download soon, or may be out by the time you’re reading this.
Threads will not be federating with anyone just yet though. They have not yet announced when they might start but, for the time being at least, Threads will operated disconnected from the fediverse.
To Block Or Not To Block
The fine folks over at scicomm.xyz have posted a detailed yet concise breakdown of the various concerns many people have about Meta’s impending arrival.
It covers basically everything I might hope to say here, so if you’re interested in the details I encourage you to go read their post:
The Options
As the scicomm.xyz post above concludes, the choices of action basically come down to:
- Cautiously defensive: do nothing for now but take rapid action if-and-when something bad happens.
- Prudently defensive: block proactively and, if none of the anticipated problems materialise within time, consider removing the block.
… of which they have chosen to block proactively:
We shall take a prudently defensive position with pre-emptive defederation. We believe this is in the best interests, and meets the expectations, of the majority of our people whilst also aligning with the values of the instance and the wider Fediverse. This is a proactive move to protect our users.
Decision: Blocking Proactively
sunny.garden will be taking the same course, and proactively blocking Threads.
When (and if) Threads begins to federate, we can take the time to evaluate its impact, and revisit the decision to defederate down the road, if it makes sense to do so.
In scicomm’s words:
The onus is then on Meta to demonstrate its value and positive potential. If Meta can show their platform is well moderated and our people are respected then we may have confidence in restoring federation to their instance(s), albeit on parole. If this is not forthcoming then we will have protected our instance from the outset.
Some people might be disappointed with this choice, but from the feedback I’ve received from sunny.garden users, as well as in discussion with other server admins, I think it makes sense to err on the side of caution and safety for our users.
As always, I’m still happy to hear any feedback from sunny.garden folks on the topic.