Month: July 2023

Meta and the Fediverse ⇥ blog.bloonface.com

Just a couple of links about Meta’s forthcoming entry into the Twitter alternatives space, beginning with “Bloonface” asking “why is Meta going to use ActivityPub?”:

The Jabber analogy works in a different way here, in that it’s not particularly clear why Google Talk needed to interoperate with XMPP at all. Google gained a user base for GTalk in spite of its Jabber integration, not because of it. The users it would have found most useful to its end goal – ultimately, revenue – were not the sort of, bluntly, nerds who loved XMPP because of its intrinsic XMPP-ness.

In the same way, what Meta really needs for its purposes is not Mastodon users, but the sort of people who your average “normie” social media users follow, and whom Mastodon does not have and is largely hostile and/or unappealing to: sports stars, celebrities, journalists, brands, influencers. Basically none of those people or companies use Mastodon; they all use Instagram. They also all use Twitter. Network effects matter, and Mastodon doesn’t bring much of one to the table.

It is a good question, and Bloonface does not have a great answer; I do not think anyone does. My guess is that it looks good for Meta to look open and friendly right now — just look at how it has marketed the “metaverse”. I do not think most people care, but I think Meta believes it is good for its reputation.

Which, by the way, is not great.

Adrian Weckler, the Independent:

It is unclear when, or if, Meta will launch Threads in Ireland and the EU. A spokesperson for Meta was unavailable to comment on the matter.

However, it is understood that the DPC has not actively blocked the service. Instead, the tech giant has not yet prepared the service for a European launch outside the UK, which is not fully governed by GDPR or EU privacy rules.

It is possible that its use of ActivityPub means it will not feel pressured to launch in the E.U., because its interoperability might be an advantage in maximizing the use of the Threads app where it is available while permitting Meta to ignore countries where it is not. It gets the benefits of those users while absorbing less risk, since privacy compromises are a function of the protocol itself.

Update: Ivan Mehta, TechCrunch:

Notably, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a post that there will be no ActivityPub support at launch. ActivityPub is a protocol that is used to post on decentralized networks like Mastodon. But the platform plans to allow interactions with other fediverse servers in the future.

[…]

“If you’re wondering why this matters, here’s a reason: you may one day end up leaving Threads, or, hopefully not, end up de-platformed. If that ever happens, you should be able to take your audience with you to another server. Being open can enable that.”

A benefit, though one which will not be realized at the launch of Threads.

European Court of Justice Declares Meta’s GDPR Approach Largely Illegal ⇥ techcrunch.com

Natasha Lomas, TechCrunch:

In its February 2019 order, the [Federal Cartel Office of Germany] told Facebook (as Meta still was back then) to stop combining data on users across its own suite of social platforms without their consent. Meta sought to block the order in the German courts — eventually sparking the referral on Meta’s so-called “superprofiling” to the CJEU in March 2021.

Now we have the top court’s take and, well, it’s not going to spark any celebrations at Meta HQ, that’s for sure.

The Court made avilable a press release (PDF) with the history of this case and its conclusion. It sounds like Meta tried to argue that showing personalized and targeted advertising was a core function of its services and in their interest; thus, it argued, it did not need explicit consent to collect their information. German regulators laughed at Meta, Meta got offended and asked E.U. regulators to put Germany in their place; instead, they put Meta in its place. European privacy activist group None Of Your Business is pleased with the finding, noting how it ought to set a precedent against these creative interpretations of the law.

As with App Tracking Transparency, I am finding it difficult to sympathize with Meta’s position. If their business model cannot sustain explicit user consent, then it is built on a fraudulent premise.

Javier Espinoza, Financial Times:

The EU court on Tuesday stressed the importance of authorities co-operating with each other and proposed a law that would allow regulators to share information about fines earlier in any investigation into a privacy breach.

“This will facilitate consensus-building and reduce the likelihood of disagreements,” said a document shown to the Financial Times. This comes after a dispute over how much Meta should have been fined for privacy breaches by regulators.

European privacy regulators have dealt with growing pains in trying to adapt and unify GDPR interpretations, but it sure looks like it is paying off.

Threads, Meta’s Twitter Clone, Appears to Be Launching July 6 ⇥ apps.apple.com

While Twitter is busy shitting the bed, competitive networks like Bluesky and Mastodon are making the most of this chaotic moment. And, it seems, there may be another big-name option coming soon: an App Store listing for Threads, the expected clone from Meta, indicates it will be launching just a few days from now on July 6.

It almost goes without saying that its privacy label looks awfully different from those of either Bluesky or any Mastodon client.

Tweets Are Now Login-Walled ⇥ mastodon.social

Like Šime Vidas, I have often linked out to Twitter — both my own tweets and those of others — in the many years I have been writing this website. I have never assumed the links would be available forever, but not because of petty reasons like requiring people to log in before viewing them. What a pisser.

It is possible this is a temporary measure, perhaps due to unrelated stability problems, but it is also possible this is the new normal. Facebook did something similar years ago, and Instagram and TikTok aggressively limit what people can see without logging in.