Dear #fediverse if there's a moment to push massively in favor of #activitypub , it's now or never 👉 https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2020/12/ftc-sues-facebook-illegal-monopolization 💣 cc @Gargron

@imacrea @Gargron
(If the implication is as such) I'd rather not have FB implement AP. They'd either have to break their own business model or turn the Fediverse into an ad & privacy nightmare. Guess which will happen.

Imaging the ActivityPub working group with corporate sponsors' hands on the spec... no way. Just another embrace-extend-extinguish.

The Fediverse already exists and it's beautiful as it is. Build it (more) and they will come.

@torresjrjr @Gargron why that? nobody will force you to connect with such instances run by ads and else. the only difference would be that you could still talk with you friends and at some point they'll just find it cooler to move to an instance that respects them. nobody wants annoying ads nor to be targeted.

@imacrea @Gargron
> Nobody will force you to connect with such instances run by ads and [such].

Facebook has ~3 billion users. The Fediverse has ~3 million (1%). They won't "force" users to use ad-driven, privacy-invasive ActivityPub platforms, but they won't tell users not to either. Guess who has the power here.

They'll provide easy migration to their own AP services, and then one day, outside instances will be made "incompatible" and "obsolete" because of "new" AP extensions. Whoops! All your fedi friends are now gone and their data is taken.

Email is a good analogy:
GMail didn't "force" anyone to use their service, but then slowly they started quietly flagging individuals' completely normal email servers as "spam", and added tonnes of internal, incompatible crap.

Same story with the Web, XMPP (WhatsApp)... the list goes on and on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish

> Nobody wants annoying ads nor to be targeted.

lol if this were true, they wouldn't be on Facebook.

@torresjrjr @Gargron Yes, yes.. I know that story. But the context is different. People are on Facebook and Insta because it's where "it's happening". If tomorrow one can switch and still be in the loop with "what's happening", we'll see what happens. Look at how many people set up adblockers... But yes, I realize the road is long and paved with many roadbloacks ahead. So, what do you suggest? :)

@imacrea @Gargron
> But the context is different.

I don't see how.

> People are on Facebook and Instagram because it's where "it's happening".

True, and that's why they'll stay there. Remember, who has the power?

> Look at how many people set up adblockers.

To us privacy-oriented people, it may seem a lot, but ~95% of people don't know, understand or care at all.

FB has integrated groups, games, DMs, shopping, match-making, images, etc. into one big seemless experience. They make it as addictive as possible. The Fediverse actually has most of these features but it's scattered and hard to understand at first.

My suggestion is don't use FB lol. At all. Burn it. Even if FB succesfully implemented AP and was completely friendly (which will never happen), the centralisation of one giant FB AP instance is completely against the idea of the decentralised Fediverse.

@torresjrjr @Gargron I agree with you. But what if it was mandatory to build interoperable platforms? I'm not saying it will defeat FB but don't you think that would be a huge step for all the people locked in these silos ecosystems? Then for what will happens, nobody knows the future. There are probabilities you could bet on but still mandatory interoperability would be game changer for sure. Just trying to give you a bit of hope 😅

@imacrea @Gargron
> But what if it was mandatory to build interoperable platforms?

What difference would that make? lol I was already assuming that.

> don't you think that would be a huge step for all the people locked in these silos ecosystems?

I don't see how. They'll still be locked in.

> Nobody knows the future.

Of course, but we'd be stupid not to predict. Look at history. This future is very likely.

You have to understand that FB is first and foremost an ad company, not a social network. Their model is simply incompatible with the current Fediverse.

Also, unlike Google with it's multiple services (email, maps, drive...), the Facebook experience is one thing and can't just be broken up.

Mandatory or not, asking for AP integration as essentially asking FB for suicide, which I'd like to see lol but they're clearly not going to just give away ad-viewers for free.

What would actually be better is if it was mandatory for people to stop using FB, and let them use the Fediverse freely. If that was ethical, I'd support that way more. That would give me hope haha.

@torresjrjr @Gargron "You have to understand that FB is first and foremost an ad company, not a social network." Who the hell told you I don't understand? — I'll stop here for a moment, it's hard to discuss with someone so convinced of oneself that one can't listen to others. I'm just trying to imagine a solution we could push. Advocating in favor of interoperability seems feasible. Advocating in forbidding people to use fb is 1. not realistic 2. not respectful of people's freedom...