LGBT and Marginalized Voices are not Welcome on Threads
July 12, 2024 2:57 PM Subscribe
Macstories writer Niléane explains how Meta's rollout of new social network Threads has failed marginalized communities and artificially boosted right-wing content.
Meta is also blocking a number of well-known Mastodon servers that host LGBT people and marginalized communities. Here is just a handful of them: tech.lgbt[/explore]
posted by HearHere at 3:37 PM on July 12 [4 favorites]
posted by HearHere at 3:37 PM on July 12 [4 favorites]
Meta is evil. I wish we could find a way out of their maze.
posted by chaz at 4:03 PM on July 12 [5 favorites]
posted by chaz at 4:03 PM on July 12 [5 favorites]
Unlike [Twitter], Threads is not run by someone that I and many others find to be an exceptionally despicable human
Instead it's run by a despicable creature wearing the face of a human, who does not have Musk's pathological need to be loved. Zuckerberg will just happily take your attention and sell it to the highest bidder.
posted by egypturnash at 4:03 PM on July 12 [18 favorites]
Instead it's run by a despicable creature wearing the face of a human, who does not have Musk's pathological need to be loved. Zuckerberg will just happily take your attention and sell it to the highest bidder.
posted by egypturnash at 4:03 PM on July 12 [18 favorites]
Shocked face: mine ☹️
posted by supermedusa at 4:16 PM on July 12 [1 favorite]
posted by supermedusa at 4:16 PM on July 12 [1 favorite]
Who could've guessed, after they've done such a great job with Facebook and Instagram?
*jazz hands*
posted by Literaryhero at 4:22 PM on July 12 [2 favorites]
*jazz hands*
posted by Literaryhero at 4:22 PM on July 12 [2 favorites]
tech.lgbt is my home instance and at 3400 active users, one of the biggest LGBT communities in the Fediverse. It is very well moderated and has a clear content policy that requires content warnings for any sexually explicit content. If we're not OK for Meta's policies, what is?
tech.lgbt also has suspended federation with threads.net for as long as that was a choice that needed to be made. The mod team posted why
posted by Nelson at 4:25 PM on July 12 [10 favorites]
tech.lgbt also has suspended federation with threads.net for as long as that was a choice that needed to be made. The mod team posted why
Facebook provides an active threat to our community, both in active and negligent form.That wouldn't be the policy I would choose but eh, I'm OK with it. Most of the Fediverse really does not trust Facebook, and with good reason.
It has gone on for long enough that we are convinced that they're irreparable in this behaviour, as it is emblematic, and the threat it enables is systemic.
posted by Nelson at 4:25 PM on July 12 [10 favorites]
Meta is ... we could find a way out of their maze
recently: "the venerated site celebrates its 25th anniversary" [content note, American Gangster:] "i got a problem, 'cause i don't understand..."
posted by HearHere at 4:47 PM on July 12
recently: "the venerated site celebrates its 25th anniversary" [content note, American Gangster:] "i got a problem, 'cause i don't understand..."
posted by HearHere at 4:47 PM on July 12
Oh, I didn't realize there was a formal Fedipact of Mastodon instances that pre-emptively blocked Threads before it ever even started federating. Tech.lgbt is the second biggest server on that roster by active users just behind Pixelfed. botsin.space is also in the fedipact as are many other big communities.
posted by Nelson at 4:55 PM on July 12 [3 favorites]
posted by Nelson at 4:55 PM on July 12 [3 favorites]
I use FB & Instagram but I have those pretty tightly locked down overall so I'm mostly just interacting with people I know (like legitimately know in real life) on both. I don't love either but I'm too old for new social media at this point.
Threads is just chaotic, though. I keep looking at it like I'd look at a car crash. I have no idea how it works or who it is for. I've said I feel like people just outright lie there. I have no idea if that's for attention (probably) or something else. I have no idea how to form relationships there, nor do I want to.
It doesn't feel like anything anyone wanted.
I am one of those weirdos who kind of likes social media. Or at least I used it to good ends (I keep in touch with far-flung friends and family members!). But I do hate the people that run it.
Can we just go back to group emails? I was thinking about my early days on the Internet and I miss the various groups I was on that was all email-based. (And I was on the usenet but that was much more of a mixed bag experience.)
(I keep trying to get people to go back to blogs but ... yeah, that's done and I know it.)
posted by edencosmic at 4:58 PM on July 12 [6 favorites]
Threads is just chaotic, though. I keep looking at it like I'd look at a car crash. I have no idea how it works or who it is for. I've said I feel like people just outright lie there. I have no idea if that's for attention (probably) or something else. I have no idea how to form relationships there, nor do I want to.
It doesn't feel like anything anyone wanted.
I am one of those weirdos who kind of likes social media. Or at least I used it to good ends (I keep in touch with far-flung friends and family members!). But I do hate the people that run it.
Can we just go back to group emails? I was thinking about my early days on the Internet and I miss the various groups I was on that was all email-based. (And I was on the usenet but that was much more of a mixed bag experience.)
(I keep trying to get people to go back to blogs but ... yeah, that's done and I know it.)
posted by edencosmic at 4:58 PM on July 12 [6 favorites]
Meta's only priority is revenue and they've figured out that outrage-driven engagement is the surest road in that direction.
Marginalized folks need a safe space to organize and build community.
These are not reconcilable goals.
I'm glad that Mastodon exists.
posted by Sauce Trough at 4:59 PM on July 12 [11 favorites]
Marginalized folks need a safe space to organize and build community.
These are not reconcilable goals.
I'm glad that Mastodon exists.
posted by Sauce Trough at 4:59 PM on July 12 [11 favorites]
I use Bluesky, occasionally; won't go near Threads or Xitter or Insta or TikTok or ... well, pretty much just Bluesky. And I'm pretty much over FB.
I don't even talk to other people in No Man's Sky.
Take that, Fuckerberg.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 5:26 PM on July 12 [2 favorites]
I don't even talk to other people in No Man's Sky.
Take that, Fuckerberg.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 5:26 PM on July 12 [2 favorites]
I have only used Threads casually, but so far I am mainly seeing threads from folks I interact with on Facebook and Instagram (some of whom I know IRL). I'm not seeing right-wing junk.
posted by marksullivan5 at 5:26 PM on July 12 [1 favorite]
posted by marksullivan5 at 5:26 PM on July 12 [1 favorite]
I’m not on any Meta platforms and I’m not sure anyone I know uses Threads but I’ve heard multiple people say that they’ve noticed Instagram comments taking a distinctly hateful turn in the last couple of years.
posted by atoxyl at 6:30 PM on July 12 [2 favorites]
posted by atoxyl at 6:30 PM on July 12 [2 favorites]
Meta is passing off articles like this as valid fact-check sources, while blocking the much more impartial Snopes article in Canada as part of their "news fee" boycott.
posted by CynicalKnight at 6:57 PM on July 12 [5 favorites]
posted by CynicalKnight at 6:57 PM on July 12 [5 favorites]
Yeah, about Bluesky:
Louisa
@louisathelast.bsky.social
Really disappointed to hear Jamelle Bouie has deactivated. Bluesky has a real bad track record of running Black intellectuals off of the site. I understand and share anger with the NYT, but one columnist there who doesn’t toe the party line doesn’t deserve to bear the brunt of that anger
posted by NoMich at 8:45 PM on July 12 [3 favorites]
Louisa
@louisathelast.bsky.social
Really disappointed to hear Jamelle Bouie has deactivated. Bluesky has a real bad track record of running Black intellectuals off of the site. I understand and share anger with the NYT, but one columnist there who doesn’t toe the party line doesn’t deserve to bear the brunt of that anger
posted by NoMich at 8:45 PM on July 12 [3 favorites]
As someone who is not Extremely Online, I had to ask what folks what happened to Jamelle Bouie on Blue Sky and basically, a bunch of white leftists got mad he writes for the NYT and told him to get another job? I mean, I know here on our own Blue, there's quite a few folks who get mad when the NYT is linked on here, but I would hope we wouldn't throw Black columnists under the bus over it.
posted by Kitteh at 5:35 AM on July 13 [7 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 5:35 AM on July 13 [7 favorites]
Huh, Threads is not blocking woof.group. That's a much more sexually explicit queer Mastodon instance full of BDSM and furry content (and hot men). It's also responsibly run with clear moderation policies but it's a whole lot spicier than tech.lgbt.
My guess is the Threads team is just not being very careful at all about moderation and reacting to reports without consideration. Maybe no one's reported woof.group yet. Unfortunately a sloppy approach to moderation really does not work in the Fediverse, the whole system is based on the idea that instances are making the Right Decisions about policy.
posted by Nelson at 7:45 AM on July 13 [6 favorites]
My guess is the Threads team is just not being very careful at all about moderation and reacting to reports without consideration. Maybe no one's reported woof.group yet. Unfortunately a sloppy approach to moderation really does not work in the Fediverse, the whole system is based on the idea that instances are making the Right Decisions about policy.
posted by Nelson at 7:45 AM on July 13 [6 favorites]
Facebook, not Meta. It's important: their name change is intended to erase criminal behavior from public awareness.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 8:07 AM on July 13 [5 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 8:07 AM on July 13 [5 favorites]
I see a lot of gay stuff on Instagram???
posted by pelvicsorcery at 10:16 PM on July 15
posted by pelvicsorcery at 10:16 PM on July 15
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posted by box at 3:28 PM on July 12 [16 favorites]