by steinaech
The Free and Open Internet is an effort to return to the ways of the internet before the likes of Facebook (Meta), Google, and other ad driven, customer data driven software monopolized the internet and turned it into the consumerist scape it is today. Social media is no longer designed for people to connect with friends and other people of like interests, but to prey on people’s interests with ads and generate revenue for every click. I’m not trying to make this sound revolutionary, it just is what it is. As people that grew up with the internet when it was the free and wild west become nostalgic and yearn for the ways of old again, armed with the tools and skills of modern programming and reduced costs of maintaining virtual infrastructure, they are creating these Free and Open spaces again. These platforms will never be as popular as their contemporaries and that’s not really the point. Like the Old Internet, they are niche places for niche groups of people. Now, how long these platforms can survive without having to resort to the revenue generating streams they sought to escape remains to be seen. But for now, here are some cool places to escape from modern social media.
Mastadon
A federated Twitter clone.
Lemmy
A federated Reddit clone.
Pixelfed
A federated Instagram clone.