again more fediverse topics goodness.

just recently, Threads.net — which is Meta's Twitter clone — implemented ActivityPub integration on their platform. it started off as one-way only but now federation works both ways. but that does not matter. why? because Threads.net is now one of the most de-federated/fediblocked instances on the Fediverse.

for the uninitiated, all instances on the Fediverse are interconnected via the ActivityPub standard protocol, which let them and their users connect and interact with each other across different servers. instances can also sever this link between it and another instance, cutting off all interactions between the two.

the initial reasoning for fediblocking Threads among fediverse instance admins was that the AP federation was one-way only, which suggests EEE (embrace, extend, extinguish) behaviour, and encourages fediverse users to join Threads just to interact with their users.

after a two-way connection was established between Threads and everyone else, the reasoning became an ethical/moral thing: Meta has been sued over promoting genocide and other forms of misinformation, and fediverse dwellers worry that Threads users are mean and toxic (because you know, big Internet.) and will destroy the peace and balance in the fediverse. the latest one is an update in Meta's privacy policy for Threads, which states that all interactions between a fediverse user and a Threads.net user allows Meta to begin harvesting data from the fediverse user's profile (which also includes their interactions with other fediverse users). and i can understand all these reasons. but there is always another stance.

there is a number of pro-Threads-federation instances which, of course, federate with Threads. their reasons include the fact that Threads alone has more users than the entire fediverse does, not all people are bad, opens up innovation, among others. and these I can somewhat agree to as well (except the last one I don't think having Mark Zuckerberg as your neighbour on the open web would improve life in any way). but these instances aren't getting much support. because a lot of the anti-Threads instances, which is a majority of the fediverse (i believe), have decided to defederate from the pro-Threads instances. Threads' EEE may be working here already, we're breaking a part of the Fediverse off of the Fediverse.

personally, i'm torn between the two stances so i'm just a neutral party here. but i will say, most fediverse software lets users block instances for themselves. so instead of defederating from Threads, instances could just ask users whether or not they'd like to block Threads.net. but i'll just stay out of this :)

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