Re: Meta censoring Pixelfed links?

This kind of message is inappropriate for this list.

<https://www.w3.org/community/about/process/#general-policies>

"Communications must not be disruptive. Participants must refrain from defaming, harassing or otherwise offending other participants or their organizations."

In standards organizations, we usually leave outside issues at the door.

Nobody here should have to be on the hook for everything their organizations do, especially if it's not directly related to ActivityPub implementation.

Let's keep this group for collaborating on Social Web standards, and save the commentary on other practices for other venues.

Evan


On January 19, 2025 5:01:43 PM EST, Sean O'Brien <sean.obrien@yale.edu> wrote:
>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
>
>