AltoJul 7, 2023
Max Kennerly

Threads is looking better and better. What I wanted from social media was:

* self-promotion from celebrities and rich people

* no control over my timeline

* strict prohibition of any sexual content

* nothing from europe

* no alt-text

* data harvesting to empower genocides

Jul 7, 2023 at 11:16amWeb
Show threadKevin Patrick Doyle 🍅🥫Jul 7, 2023

@maxkennerly got into a back and forth with a guy over there who insists Elon and his antics are way worse than Facebook being used to great effect in the Rhohynga genocide.

Needless to say I’m not itching to use the product

Show threadAndrew CallanJul 7, 2023
@Kevin @maxkennerly multiple things can be true. FB's lack of effective response was deplorable & will forever be a black eye. And it also would’ve & possibly will be much worse w/ lEon in charge of a major social platform given his open disdain for trust & safety efforts. By your logic we should blame most war crimes on the phone companies used to organize them which is stupidly reductionist
Show threadKevin Patrick Doyle 🍅🥫Jul 7, 2023

@acallan1 @maxkennerly i fully agree both can be true, and said as much to this individual.

The phone companies argument doesn't really work for me as in the Rohynga genocide it wasn't the communication itself so much as it was the manipulation of a proprietary communication medium which is nominally self policed. Phone based communication isn’t new, novel, or proprietary.

Also probably not great to reply to people you don't know and imply they are stupid if you want to engage with them

Show threadAndrew CallanJul 7, 2023
@Kevin @maxkennerly every communications platform has enabled innovative forms of humans being awful as we learned what the exploit vectors are, if you have substantive criticism of Meta not learning from their mistakes by all means let’s hear them but prob not great to post false equivalencies just for fake internet pts
Show threadKevin Patrick Doyle 🍅🥫Jul 7, 2023

@acallan1 @maxkennerly if i wanted internet points I'd probably be on a service where they are actually quantifiable. I don't know if you have tried to run your own instance but clout isn't really a thing you can measure.

Frankly, I don't see a false equivalence here. If people are fleeing Twitter for Threads (which I fully support them doing) they should do so with their eyes wide open when it comes to Meta’s history of moving fast and breaking things that also break people.

Show threadAndrew CallanJul 7, 2023
@Kevin @maxkennerly it's good & fair to remind folks that Meta isn’t some white knight just bc lEon's made everyone else look better in comparison, which I think we agree on. I obv don't know the content of the threads back & forth you originally referenced but it sounded like you saw them as different in degree rather than in kind, which I do not. I see Meta as having been negligent at times vs lEon seems openly hostile to trust & safety efforts, but that's just my opinion to date
Show threaddrabJul 7, 2023
@acallan1 @Kevin @maxkennerly I don’t know if I think Meta isn’t hostile to trust and safety efforts. I think they’re essentially concerned with trust only insofar as it enables them to maintain/expand their data harvesting operations. In both cases, each entity only wants to maintain public goodwill in order to profit off of its respective users.
Show threadLumpenproletariat Bike MayorJul 7, 2023
@acallan1 @Kevin @maxkennerly algorithms don't just enable terrible things, they can encourage and spread them too. Facebook is not a common carrier and has fought to not be one.
Show threadChris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸Jul 7, 2023

@acallan1 @Kevin @maxkennerly It is far far more than "a black eye" when your platform including its proprietary algorithms wholly owned and created for Facebook likely contributed to a genocide.

"Facebook owner Meta’s dangerous algorithms and reckless pursuit of profit substantially contributed to the atrocities perpetrated by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya people in 2017, Amnesty International said in a new report published today."

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/09/myanmar-facebooks-systems-promoted-violence-against-rohingya-meta-owes-reparations-new-report/

Myanmar: Facebook’s systems promoted violence against Rohingya; Meta owes reparations – new report

Amnesty International
Show threadKevin  Jul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly Ironically despite the prohibition of sexual content I'm already seeing NSFW posts on my Threads timeline because I have no control over who appears on it and there are no content warnings. 🤦
Show threadShawn in MontrealJul 7, 2023

@maxkennerly Yes the more time I spend there the less I think of it.

One thing I've come to realize is that if you aren't famous you're not going to have any followers?

I am at 9 there after a day.

Twitter was good at suggesting accounts to follow, based on what people were sharing. Threads claims to do that, but people's timelines are so flooded with unwanted stuff that you are not going to get seen, I think.

Show threadShawn in MontrealJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly I suppose it reflects its roots in Instagram, which is itself a lousy place to have actual conversations.
Show threadShawn in MontrealJul 7, 2023

@maxkennerly On the other hand, this article claims that Threads is "intuitive" in what it shows us.

So why does it feel so dumb and random?

https://www.wired.com/story/threads-app-twitter-rival-meta/

How Threads Could Kill Twitter

Meta’s microblogging app is intuitive, has already been downloaded by millions of people, and has other advantages over Twitter’s would-be rivals.

WIRED
Show threadtom4okstateJul 7, 2023

@maxkennerly I'm wondering if it ever actually does adopt activity pub.

I'm all for it but I don't understand what's in it for them.

Show threadClaudeJul 7, 2023
@tom4okstate coopting AP and then add functions on their side that the AP teams won't implement. Resulting in the same debacle we had with XMPP/Google. They want to get us back on their products.
@maxkennerly
Show threadDawidJul 7, 2023

@switch @tom4okstate @maxkennerly IMO they don't care about us. Fediverse is too small to be important for Meta to fight for us to be there. I think they fear of regulators and the fact, that they can be splitted.

https://mastodon.social/@djvdq/110669239970743376

Show threadClaudeJul 7, 2023
@djvdq @tom4okstate Meta is extremely aware of the momentum ethical social networks have right now. They will want to sabotage it. @maxkennerly
Show threadDawidJul 7, 2023
@switch there is already antitrust case in US, FTC vs Meta. EU don't like them also, to put it mildly. If they would have one more big social media platform they can be almost sure that they will be splitted sooner or later.
What momentum do you mean? Fediverse is less than 10 million people across all platforms and declining. It's 0.3% of all Meta users. Sadly, people doesn't care about privacy or ethics. They care if they can see what movie/sport/music star is posting online
Show threadStianJul 7, 2023
@tom4okstate @maxkennerly I see two main draws:
1. Prevent #antitrust. Using the competitive advantage of Instagram to gain users of a new service is a bit iffy. ActivityPub could be a counter-argument.
2. Content moderation. They don't want to harbour "free speech fundamentalists" or whatever, but if you ban them from your popular monopolistic platform you're suddenly moderating the public sphere to an uncomfortable degree. with #ActivityPub you can just say "go elsewhere".
Show thread꧁ Mikki ꧂ 💙💛🌻Jul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly add to the list no protections from hate speech. One of the people I follow on there has already been subjected to hate speech and reported it to Meta. Meta’s response was they could either block or mute the account.
Show threadRev. GothAliceJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly What could there possibly be to complain about? It's PERFECT!
Show threadAlexander Max RanabelJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly Europe?
Show threadAlexander Max RanabelJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly Nevermind i was a dumb ass
Show threadWhose Grift Is It Anyway?Jul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly Who would've guessed #Meta creating a #Twitter alternative and launching it before it is ready would've been a bad thing!?
Show threadEssjay (she / her) 🏳️‍🌈Jul 7, 2023

@whosegrift @maxkennerly

"Who would've guessed #Meta creating a #Twitter alternative would've been a bad thing!?"

FIFY

Show threadMary P G KeatingJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly
Love it.😂
Europe here, Ireland specifically.
We are saved.
Show threadJeff McFaddenJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly you wouldn't fib to me, would you?
Show threadPablo Jul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly also is missing a way to search specific content, right now is only available search by users/accounts nothing else
Show threadNick's worldJul 7, 2023
@ppatel @maxkennerly I want the exact opposite.
Show threadPratik PatelJul 7, 2023
@gocu54 @maxkennerly I think the post was being sarcastic.
Show threadNick's worldJul 7, 2023
@ppatel @maxkennerly Yeah, that's what I thought but I've never been good at detecting sarcasm bud.
Show threadmorphJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly I must install this immediately!
@deadsuperhero
Show threadLyndeeJul 7, 2023

@maxkennerly

Gd it. Do i have to delete IG now? Just got a msg notification about threads...they better not auto onboard. 😐

Show threadStuccoJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly
Show threadAdam MillerJul 7, 2023

@maxkennerly

So network TV in the 80s and 90s, with a side of additional data harvesting?

Show thread@pineywoozle ‘s #3WordNoteJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly What is this Europe you speak of?
Show threadalfsonJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly heh
Show threadMatt KleinJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly *squints* Sarcasm, sir? On this internet? A brave man, braver than I.
Show threadBrandonJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly at least they have a robust ecosystem of third party apps to choose from
Show threadEm 💜Jul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly only positive thing about this is that with Threads app, Meta is finally somewhat honest of what data it gathers and connects to a user 🤷‍♀️
Show threadnatriumchlorideJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly dude if you want sexual content just go have some sex lol. No offence but it's a bit silly to put a porn ban next to empowering genocide, it's like "murder arson jaywalking"
Show threadJared White (ResistanceNet ✊)Jul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly Sign me up!
Show threadBenJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly Europeans are the wurst! I mean, just look at all those ridiculous languages!
Show threadAgoraJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly anyone going on any of Fuckerberg’s apps is not well in the brain.
Show threadPaul Marrow 🇪🇺Jul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly very pleased that I don't have to do anything with it then coming from 🇪🇺🇬🇧🇦🇹
Show threadKris SamselJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly So you don’t mind if I buy your data? I’ll talk to Zuckerberg. After he gets through, killing another goat.
Show threadGed MaheuxJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly @[email protected] but… “fun”!
Show threadJohn Mark  ☑️Jul 7, 2023

@maxkennerly Sign me up!

(Actually don't. And since there's no web UI to speak of, I can't use it anyway)

Show threadTanya Harris-VanHoutenJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly what do you have against alt text? Alt text is an inclusive resolution for people who cannot see.
Show thread CalebJul 7, 2023

@maxkennerly @gedeonm

Sounds “fun”.

Show threadClockwork ☃️✒️Jul 7, 2023

@maxkennerly

Can we have a social with a "nothing from the US" option? 😂

Show threadRandall GrossJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly Let me add that I really like that there's no Windows or Apple PC web browser access, although it would be trivial to make that stuff browser accessible right?
Show threadResolviendo la incógnita 🌐Jul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly Why go through each stage of enshittification if you can go straight to the end?
Show threadTang ✹Jul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly "strict prohibition of any sexual content" that is actually a good point
Show threadoasoaJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly finally a social media that the people want
Show threaddrabJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly you’re telling me that having companies hoover-up every single metric about you they can find doesn’t make you feel special?
Show threadMagitismJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly Well, at least it confirms my biases by showing me only stuff I agree with or enrages me.
Show threadeclyJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly It's really a no-brainer when you think about it... 😂
Show threadNate MJul 7, 2023
@maxkennerly "nothing from europe" why?
Show threadChris WoodJul 7, 2023
@natemtn @maxkennerly I read on Mastodon that they can’t comply with the EU’s laws so they haven’t launched there. Apparently it could be antitrust issue, because they are onboarding users by using their Instagram accounts without letting other organisations do the same. I can’t find the post I read that in anymore though. In any case, you can’t access Threads if you’re in the EU.