Mastodawn

Niléane Jul 12, 2024

LGBT and Marginalized Voices Are Not Welcome on Threads https://www.macstories.net/stories/lgbt-and-marginalized-voices-are-not-welcome-on-threads/

Here’s a story that I wish I didn’t have to write. But it’s high time that we make this a central point anytime, anywhere Threads is pictured as a decent alternative to Twitter and Mastodon. It is only that if you’re a straight, white male.

@macstories

LGBT and Marginalized Voices Are Not Welcome on Threads

<p>As Twitter was crumbling under Elon Musk’s new leadership in 2023, various online circles found themselves flocking to alternative platforms. While some may have kept using Twitter (now known as… X), a non-negligible number of communities migrated over to Mastodon and other smaller platforms. Meanwhile, Meta shipped its own textual social media platform, Threads. The...</p>

Show thread

matlag Jul 12, 2024

@macstories @nileane The biggest mystery to me was why would anyone trust Threads to do better than the others, especially knowing Facebook's track record.

This is the very same company screwing people over and over and over and over and "Hey, why wouldn't we give them a 42nd chance? They said they would do good this time!"

Moderating is a cost, and marginalized communities combine both criteria "too small to represent significant money making" and "attract most of the hate, so higher moderation cost if we want to protect them". Corporates will always do an accounting math before doing what's right.

I believe only federated decentralized networks provide a solution, with instances ideally managed by people who are themselves part of a minority group.

Show thread

Jargoggles

@matlag @macstories @nileane
Anybody who said they were going to take a "wait and see" approach when it came to defederating with Threads was lying to you and/or themselves. It was a thought-terminating cliché to avoid taking a hard stance on an issue that they never had any intention of revisiting.

They have stars in their eyes over the massive user count and the people who were actually open enough to talk that stance through did end up saying that it really just came down to the size of the audience.

The only way it makes sense is if you think big numbers are better just for the sake of being bigger. Personally, I don't think size is a virtue when it comes to unmoderated hate-filled cesspools, but that's me.