It's 01:44 am, so naturally I'm working on my "The Future is Decentralized and Federated" talk for @oscl@mastodon.opencloud.lu .
I'm at the part where I explain the need for decentralized (and federated) platforms and the adverse effects of centralized platforms.
Besides the obvious examples of big tech shutting down services, I'm considering including the hostile take-over of TikTok by Oracle, a private equity firm, and an Abu Dhabi based VC firm.
Similar as to how Twitter got ruined by tech bro money, TikTok was also hijacked. And it's genuinely so harmful to our freedom of information. TikTok was way more than a silly little dance app.
Had TikTok been decentralized, like @joinloops@mastodon.social , or like @Mastodon@mastodon.social in the case of Twitter, they couldn't have taken over the whole community. Anyone could have started a new server and excluded the one that was now poisoned. Take over the whole company? Cool, the project gets forked.
@Gina@fosstodon.org @joinloops@mastodon.social @Mastodon@mastodon.social where's the loop video!
Because man do I miss TikTok every day. In between cat videos, the journalism on there was peak. Freedom of information and media pluralism is a pillar of democracy. TikTok was close to free press.
Nowhere else did you get first person accounts of political events happening irl, like that guy in Nepal during the gov overthrow. Or in-depth pieces on Gaza. Or the influence of big tech on democracy. Or the rise of fascism in the US. Or the real economic effects of policy on regular people.