📺 PeerTube Co-op FAQ: Building a Member-Owned Alternative to YouTube
The future of video doesn’t belong to platforms. It belongs to people.
We’re building a PeerTube co-op: a member-owned, democratically governed video platform based in BC. No algorithms deciding what matters. No corporate choke points. No waiting for permission.
This is about taking control of the infrastructure, the governance, and the culture—and doing it together.
Why a co-op?
Because co-ops give people ownership, governance rights, and collective resilience. Instead of handing data and control to a platform, members pool resources, share decision-making, and shape policies together.
BC has a strong legal framework for co-operatives, which makes it a natural place to explore this seriously.
Why PeerTube?
PeerTube is federated, open-source, and already battle-tested as a decentralized alternative to YouTube. It’s not perfect—but it provides a solid foundation for a co-op structure to build on top of.
The idea is to pair federated tech with co-operative governance, so neither corporate control nor a single admin dictates the rules.
Who’s behind this?
Right now, this is being organized by me (@atomicpoet) and @Crissy, along with a growing group of interested folks: creators, privacy advocates, security experts, and co-op thinkers from around the world.
We’re still early—think founding conversations, not bylaws and board elections. But the energy is real.
How much does it cost to join?
What follows is the proposed model, not something set in stone. The final structure will be decided by the member-owners once the co-op is formed.
The idea is to keep membership affordable for individuals while ensuring the co-op is financially sustainable from the start—with no ads, no data harvesting, and no outside investors. Just members pooling resources to run the platform together.
- Base membership: C$5.95/month
- Medium tier (10–100 GB/month): +C$3 → C$8.95/month
- Heavy tier (100 GB+): +C$10 → C$15.95/month
At scale, with a typical user mix (80% base / 15% medium / 5% heavy), this works out to about C$6.90 per member per month, which comfortably covers hosting and operational costs.
There’s also a one-time buy-in of C$50, which funds initial setup (domain, CDN deposits, buffer) and helps keep the early months profitable without raising dues. When spread over the first year, that’s roughly C$4.17/month in effective cost coverage.
What happens if the co-op grows faster than expected?
The financial and technical model is step-wise, not linear. As membership increases, transcoding nodes, storage/CDN tiers, and egress commitments scale at defined traffic thresholds.
The co-op’s development will unfold in three phases, with member-owners deciding collectively when to move from one to the next.
Do I need technical skills to participate?
No. Technical expertise is welcome but not required. Governance, policy, communications, creative, and community-building skills are just as valuable. Infrastructure will be professionally managed, with costs shared through dues.
Will the co-op run its own infrastructure or rely on third parties?
The proposal uses managed hosting as a baseline, scaling as membership grows. This provides reliability early on while retaining the ability to self-host more components later.
How will moderation work?
Moderation scales with user base and federation breadth:
- Member reporting and rotating stewards handle first-line triage
- Paid moderation begins once activity reaches 10–15+ hours/week
- Budget estimates: up to C$270/month for ~100 users; part-time moderation (~C$1,755/month) for ~500 users
Will the instance federate with everyone or be selective?
The proposal starts with a curated allowlist of trusted instances to control load.
It will also:
- Adopt shared blocklists as a baseline
- Document defederation criteria and appeals to keep the process transparent
As membership grows, federation posture can be revisited by member-owners.
What’s the timeline for incorporation and launch?
We’re not working toward rigid dates—we’re building deliberately, in three clear phases:
- Phase 1: Formation and groundwork. Incorporation, drafting bylaws, establishing MVP infrastructure, and setting out the core policies (ToS, AUP, takedown).
- Phase 2: Growth and refinement. Expanding membership, activating the hybrid pricing model, introducing stipends, and refining federation posture.
- Phase 3: Maturity and expansion. Adding part-time moderation, building reserves and insurance, and exploring potential expansion into other Fediverse services.
Each phase builds on the last, and decisions about when to transition between them will be made collectively by member-owners.
What drives costs the most?
Egress and bandwidth dominate, not storage. P2P offload reduces egress as viewer concurrency rises, but outbound data remains the biggest expense.
How does the pricing hold up financially?
At as few as five members, the co-op becomes cash-flow positive, and margins scale significantly with growth.
- 100 members → estimated monthly surplus C$587
- 1,000 members → estimated monthly surplus C$6,870
I’ve never been in a co-op before. Will there be guidance?
Yes. The initial bylaws and governance structure will include clear documentation. New members will be onboarded through AGMs, published policies, and transparent reporting, as required under BC Co-operative Association law.
Will you use open-source tools for internal communications?
That will ultimately be up to the member-owners to decide collectively.
For now, tools like Google Docs are being used temporarily to get everyone aligned quickly. Yes, the irony isn’t lost—it’s like holding a union meeting in Jeff Bezos’ living room. But this is just to get the ball rolling, not a long-term choice.
How will governance work?
We’re still defining this collectively, but the plan is to follow BC co-op regulations while ensuring member governance is meaningful, not symbolic. Expect conversations around:
- Founding member structure
- Board or steering committee setup
- Decision-making processes
- Transparency and accountability measures
I’m not a PeerTube user, but I’m interested in the co-op structure. Is that relevant?
Yes—very. Some participants are here primarily because they’re passionate about co-operatives, not necessarily PeerTube. That expertise will be crucial for getting the legal, organizational, and governance frameworks right.
Will non-members be able to watch videos?
Yes. As with most PeerTube instances, most viewing will be public, but uploading and policy decisions are reserved for member-owners. The co-op’s primary responsibility is to its members, while still providing an open and accessible platform for viewers.
What will the co-op be called?
The official name and branding will be chosen collectively by the founding member-owners after incorporation.
How do I get involved or stay informed?
The next step will be setting up an initial coordination space (on open-source infrastructure, if members choose that path) to keep everyone looped in and start shaping this together.
If you want to be kept informed, reach out privately or share your email so you can be included when that happens.
Isn’t this ambitious?
Yes. But the response so far has been incredible. The mix of skills and motivations showing up this early—technical, organizational, privacy, cultural—is exactly what’s needed to make something real.
ADDENDED QUESTIONS (Oct 6, 2015)
Why incorporate in British Columbia?
BC has one of the strongest and most flexible legal frameworks for co-operatives in North America. It allows for multi-stakeholder models, clear governance structures, and relatively straightforward incorporation. This makes it an ideal jurisdiction to establish a co-op that can scale while remaining member-governed.
Is this a for-profit or non-profit co-op?
Right now, I’m proposing a for-profit co-op, because I believe that’s the best way to maximally serve member-owners. A for-profit structure allows the co-op to sustain itself through revenue, reinvest surplus into the platform, and return benefits to members, rather than relying on grants or donations.
That said, nothing is set in stone. Once the steering committee is formed and the co-op takes shape, member-owners will collectively decide what structure works best.
Why are you deliberately reaching out to British Columbia residents?
Under BC co-operative law, at least one director must be a resident of British Columbia. I already fulfil that requirement. However, it’s wise to build redundancies into the governance structure in case something happens that prevents my continued participation. Having more BC-based member-owners involved ensures the co-op remains legally compliant and operational no matter what.
Do I need to live in BC to be a member?
No. Anyone, regardless of where they live, can become a member-owner of the co-op. The only legal requirement is that at least three members of the initial steering committee must be Canadian residents for incorporation purposes. International members are welcome and encouraged to participate in governance, decision-making, and platform use.
Can organizations or businesses become member-owners?
Yes, in principle. Co-ops can have both individuals and organizations as members. We’ll be consulting co-operative experts to confirm the best structure, but businesses that share the vision for a sustainable, community-owned video platform will likely be able to join as organizational members.
What role can international supporters play?
International supporters can become member-owners, participate in discussions, contribute financially, and help shape policies and governance. While only Canadian residents can be part of the legal steering committee for incorporation, international voices are essential for building a platform that serves a global community.
How will this co-op coordinate with other Fediverse co-ops?
Co-ops are stronger together. We’ve started reaching out to groups like CoSocial.ca, Social.coop, and SocialBC.ca to explore collaboration, share governance practices, and ensure efforts complement rather than duplicate each other. There’s a real opportunity to build a federated co-operative ecosystem across the Fediverse.
📝 Closing Thought
This is still early days. But something’s forming—a group of people who see the cracks in the platform world and want to build something better, together.
If that resonates with you, you’re welcome here.
#PeerTubeCoop #PeerTube #Cooperative
RE: https://atomicpoet.org/objects/2289eb47-0f39-463d-a056-8568e12e70f3
Chris Trottier
Sun Kitty ☀️