A $30M plan to take back social media from billionaires

+ Pervert winter, robot accessories, Snoop Dogg's LinkedIn, buzzcuts to break the internet, and Elon Musk gamer stolen valor

Today, a group of former Twitter users who are fed up by the platform’s decline under billionaire control, are launching a new campaign to transform social media into a public good, free from profit-driven incentives, venture capital pressure, and politically-motivated censorship.

The project is called “FreeOurFeeds,” and it has launched with the support of big names including actor Mark Ruffalo, writer Cory Doctorow, businessman Roger McNamee, director Alex Winter, and others.

FreeOurFeeds aims to build a new social media ecosystem on top of the AT Protocol, an open, decentralized framework designed to enable interoperable social media platforms, giving users greater control over their data, algorithms, and online experience (it’s what Bluesky runs on). They want to leverage this tech to create a social media ecosystem focused on individual control, creativity, community well-being, and free expression.

They basically want to build Bluesky out from one company into a whole ecosystem of different apps and companies by making a non profit foundation that opens up its underlying technology so anybody can build on it.

“This is the moment to reclaim social media,” said Robin Berjon, technologist and project custodian. “As we did with the creation of public roads and shared spaces in our towns, we must invest in digital infrastructure that operates under a social contract — benefiting everyone, not just the few.”

To do this, the group aims to raise $30M over the next three years, starting with $4M to create the foundation and get critical infrastructure up and running. You can donate to their GoFundMe. Their plan includes building independent infrastructure to guarantee that Bluesky users and developers have uninterrupted access to data streams regardless of corporate decisions, and to fund outside developers in order to “create a vibrant ecosystem of social applications built on open protocols, fostering healthier and more equitable online spaces.”

“The last two decades have seen the world sleepwalk into a situation where a handful of companies dictate our entire social media experience. Now, for the first time we have an opportunity to rewrite the rules. Bluesky’s underlying technology, the AT protocol, could offer a new pathway for the social web.” said Sherif Elsayed-Ali, Executive Director of the Future of Technology Institute.

Elsayed-Ali continued: “As it stands, [Bluesky] is still venture-capital backed. This important initiative aims to safeguard Bluesky’s underlying technology and put it on an independent pathway, so that the future of social media can be freed from the whims of any one company or group of billionaires.”

FreeOurFeeds writes: Social media once promised to be a global public square, connecting communities and sparking creativity. Yet, under the control of billionaires and venture capital driven control, it has devolved into a tool for personal gain, corporate agendas, and declining user experience. Project FreeOurFeeds envisions a better future, one where community, capital, and control are reclaimed in the public interest.

“What’s so exciting here is a clear pathway to large-scale social media controlled by its users, not by fickle billionaires or advertisers. It’s a whole new paradigm of how to connect people,” said Eli Pariser, of New_Public, Upworthy, and The Filter Bubble, and a custodian of this project. The group is accepting donations for the project, with governance of the fundraiser overseen by the non profit Development Gateway.

With erosion of trust in institutions at an all-time high, creating a social media ecosystem that centers transparency, accountability, and user empowerment is a noble goal. There’s an undeniable frustration with billionaire control of our digital public spaces. Billionaires’ grip on social media has turned platforms like X and Meta into censorship-happy hellscapes, where marginalized voices are silenced while right wing influencers receive algorithmic amplification. The entire social web has also become burdened with a growing number of ads and features aimed at squeezing every last penny of profit from users.

The internet is at a crossroads, and the centralized corporate control we have seen emerge in recent years is a grave threat to the internet’s original promise as a tool for democratization and free expression. FreeOurFeeds faces a steep uphill battle. Raising $30 million in a landscape where venture capital dominates funding for tech projects is no small feat, and creating a truly decentralized platform that avoids corporate capture and doesn’t cater to political pressure will be a challenge.

The biggest hurdle, however, may be convincing users to transition away from mega-platforms like Meta, X, and others. We have all acclimated to these legacy platforms and they house years (if not decades) of our social connections and memories. I adore Bluesky— please follow me on there!— but the app has still not replicated the full functionality of Twitter for many. Network effects are real, but if FreeOurFeeds is successful I do think it could offer a blueprint for a better, more free and open internet.

What I’m reading

Brendan Carr Makes It Clear That He’s Eager To Be America’s Top Censor

As with so much in the Trump administration, Brendan Carr may be the biggest threat to free speech in our government in a long while. And he’s not being shy about it. - TechDirt

Jellycat burglars: Meet the people surfing the soft toy crime wave

Jellycats became an internet obsession during the early days of the pandemic, and now they’re being stolen in droves. But is it really so wrong? - Dazed

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