- From: Sean O'Brien <sean.obrien@yale.edu>
- Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2025 17:01:43 -0500
- To: public-swicg@w3.org
Hi folks, I would like to request that the Meta representatives on this list please respond to these concerns re: Pixelfed and potential anti-competitive behavior by Meta: https://archive.is/XwgRu https://www.404media.co/meta-is-blocking-links-to-decentralized-instagram-competitor-pixelfed/ Is Meta engaging in anti-competitive behavior in regard to Pixelfed? Can the Meta employees on this list please escalate within your organization and get a response? Meta's enthusiasm for interop and federation in regard to Threads is approximately one year old now. What goodwill has been gained in that time across the fediverse could disappear in a day. In my opinion, Pixelfed is vitally important for the fediverse at this moment and purposeful removal or blocking of Pixelfed links could be construed as monopolistic. Minds more legally-grounded than mine might find such actions illegal, and there is precedent for this going back at least to Microsoft's error messages in regard to DR-DOS. Pixelfed is a popular, established, and growing fediverse project and a potential competitor for Instagram. The developers are now also working on Loops, a TikTok-like fediverse project that has been gaining steam due to the TikTok ban in the US. Censorship of Pixelfed at a time when the same devs are building a fediverse alternative for TikTok refugees is not a good look. If this topic was covered here already, I apologize in advance for missing it. Clarification, please. Cheers, Sean -- Sean O'Brien Research Fellow, Information Society Project (ISP) at Yale Law School Founder, Privacy Lab at Yale ISP https://privacylab.yale.edu
Received on Sunday, 19 January 2025 22:01:50 UTC