this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2023
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I already acknowledged how that does not protect the community itself. Including from potential unethical practices/non-consenting experiments by Threads against users, seeing as how that is an established practice of the parent company.
If Threads is federated with Lemmy.World, could they not carry out actions that would in-turn affect users from this instance?
For example, say they manipulate the hot posts on Threads to be depressing content to experiment on moods (again). Would that manipulated feed not affect users of this instance with the federated content?
Or what about how FB and Instagram promoted misinformation many times over, and which is a current problem on Threads? How is this different than defederating from Exploding Heads?
It seems wild to me to federate with a notorious bad actor like Meta/Threads. It's so clearly in opposition to cultivating a healthy fediverse IMO. The immediate payoff is more users in the Fediverse, but I think it will be a mistake in the long run.
People advocating for trusting Meta/Threads this time after their history is like believing that touching a hot stove won't burn me this time.
If it seems wild to you to fedrate with Metq, why don't you just defederate yourself then?
Because you actually have that power. You yourself can decide.
If .world deferates the entire instance, people like me who wants to federate with them no longer has a choice.
So do you feel the same way for exploding heads? I don't think platforms should be given exposure when they're going to lead to more radicalization.
And I was intending to create some more communities here, but I'm reluctant to do that with potential Threads integration.
For instance, I was thinking about making a community for my city, but I wouldn't want Threads integration to be incorporated into the community. Would I have a way of the community itself blocking Threads?
But what it ultimately boils down to is the danger that the far-right poses, especially with trump's dictator remarks and threats against political opponents as well as the justice department.
These platforms and the way they are managed have real-world consequences. January 6th is an example. The_Donald and incels on reddit lead to real-world violence and murders. 8chan users have a history of encouraging mass shooters.
This is such a tumultuous time with dangerous and fascist rhetoric becoming normalized, and there is a danger of real-world violence. There's also plenty of examples already. Far-right extremism has been on the rise around the world and is a global concern.
I think the ethical decision is not to enable such platforms that enable hatespeech, harassment, and radicalization. But I understand that you disagree with me.
Actually I don't feel that for any instance, be they extreme right left or center.
Let the users pick for themselves, instead of forcing them into a position.
The thing is, you could make a profile on Threads as well. You could create your own instance that is federated. It's not like .world refraining from federating would mean you can't view Threads in general. Just like you can still experience FB content even tho they are not federated. No one is stopping you.
But this isn't a matter of right and left discourse; it's a matter of people being manipulated into extreme and dangerous beliefs and actions without realizing it.
I think it is blatantly wrong to enable and promote such platforms and social disease, just like it would be wrong for supermarkets to sell dangerous/defective products.
Someone may be interested in trying some special kind of water, but it shouldn't be sold in stores if it's poisoning people. The shop can't stop someone from doing dangerous things, but they can refrain from enabling harm to come to their shoppers by refraining from peddling dangerous products.
It's like a Medicare insurance firm knowingly hiring a con-artist who has already defrauded countless elderly individuals...
I don't think it's right for large instances to allow dangerous misinformation to affect their users. FB/Instagram have culpability in the real-world violence. The massive amount of unnecessary deaths from covid misinformation. Anti-masking. Overdosing on horse de-wormer...
The admins of these large instances have an ethical decision to make which will have real-world consequences. They will have culpability in spreading radicalism and exposing their users to potential unethical influence by Meta/Threads.
If they federate and it leads to users losing their self-identity to identity fusion to a radical group, that victim is on them. That fractured family is on them. They will share responsibility for radical users trying to foment insurrection or executing their families due to delusional extremism. [1] [2]
They have to decide whether they want to protect and cultivate a healthy community or not. By federated with Threads, they will be doing the opposite.