Friends, smart asses, renegades, rebels with a broadband connection, keyboard warriors, pixel anarchists, and all you other beautifully sarcastic bastards, rejoice! It finally is payback time against Big Tech. One ginormous, unapologetic, glorious fuck-you against Zucky’s soul-draining metaverse hot fantasies, Skum’s narcissistic algorithmic cesspool, Bitch-AI’s infinite surveillance state, TikTok’s endless dopamine circus, and every other goddamn tech tyrant who thought your attention and mine was just another product to auction off, because guess what, assholes, the Fediverse is here, and we’re done playing nice.
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Hello?
Um.
Are you still here?
Echo! . . . . . Echo-o-o
Oops.
Maybe I went a little too far with my rant this time.
Anyways. . . for y’all who stuck around, I salute you, and I will now tell you exactly what the Fediverse is and what you can do with it.
Because Big Tech wants you trapped.
Stuck in an endless loop in their ecosystems, pumping around you data like it’s crude oil, trying to scam you into selling your attention in exchange for some dopamine.
But hey, you knew that already, didn’t you?
Especially after reading last week’s articles.
Those shiny little dopamine factories, YouTube, Xwitter, Instagram, TikTok, they are not your friendly neighborhood playgrounds.
Nope.
They are more like crack parlors, that are engineered by the soulless architects of attention capitalism. Algorithms decide what you see. Notifications dictate your mood. Content policies mold your thoughts.
Freedom, what a joke.
You have one real choice. Stay and feed the beast, or leave. And we both know leaving is harder than kicking heroin.
Let’s clarify something first before you start whining.
The existence of these platforms isn’t the real issue. It’s not even the plague of influencers peddling snake oil, or algorithms serving you endless streams of recycled trash. The real problem is far more insidious (I just love the movie frenchise); they’ve made everyone believe that they are the only legitimate way to exist online.
Think about it.
When you post content there, you are building their empire, brick by pixelated brick. Your followers? Hah!
Their property, not yours.
Your digital identity is held hostage, waiting for execution if you step out of line.
But wait, don’t go off now.
Stay.
There’s a way out of this mess.
The Open Web
The open web is the quiet rebellion, the underdog that is biting Big Tech’s ankles. Have you ever heard of platforms like Mastodon and PixelFed?
Maybe. . .
But you’re not really sure.
Mastodon is Twitter’s angrier, smarter cousin. It is a decentralized, open-source social network that lets you scream into the digital void without handing your soul to some billionaire ego-trip, and PixelFed is what Instagram wishes it could be, and that is a privacy-focused, community-owned, decentralized photo-sharing platform far away from Zucky’s greasy grip and algorithmic bullshit.
They are part of that scrappy digital resistance called the Fediverse, where they are proving a simple but radical truth. . . social networking doesn’t need centralized bosses.
Here, your every click isn’t logged and analyzed for weakness.
Your thoughts aren’t commodities auctioned off.
Imagine that!
Technology doesn’t enslave.
Crazy!
Big Tech’s reaction to any threat, as always, is to evade accountability, steal innovative ideas, lobby corrupt politicians, or straight-up buy democracy wholesale.
Losing control is never an option.
Their empire of perpetual growth demands your complete surrender.
Guess what? Every time you take the easy path, you reinforce their digital tyranny. Each exclusive Instagram post, each compliant tweet, each minute chasing viral validation within their walls makes their grip tighter.
Congrats, you have played yourself.
And the same goes for me as well.
I post my shit here on LinkedIn.
I wanted to create good crap on a shitty platform.
So here, I am, sponsoring LinkedIn, and somewhere in the back, Microsoft that is using all of our data to know who we are, how many times we have looked at a job, what the chance is that you will leave your current position, and they feed that data right back to your boss. “Anonymous” of course, but those metrics are key for a CHRO who is willing to pay big bucks for it.
This isn’t some nostalgic rambling about the good old days of dial-up modems.
This is a slap of pragmatism across my own complacent face. My so-called progressive values, like freedom, independence, equity, they cannot thrive under centralized power. They suffocate. They are strangled by corporate greed and sociopathic shareholders. It’s about who controls communication.
Do we really want a handful of tech billionaires directing global discourse? Haven’t we seen enough billionaire bullshit?
Choosing the open web is your chance to flip the bird at digital feudalism.
🖕
The Internet used to be a decentralized chaos
Participate in federated networks, and suddenly you are defiantly helping dismantle tech monopolies. The open web might not offer instant viral fame, but it gives you something infinitely better, and that is genuine ownership, authentic community governance, and true digital independence.
It is not a fast-food menu of addictive distractions, but it sure as hell is a goddamn buffet of dignity.
Big Tech’s code monkeys optimize algorithms for maximum addiction, but open web developers build spaces where your attention isn’t mined for profit.
Just think of it.
A world where your online presence isn’t sold off piece by piece, where your data isn’t used against you, and where hate speech isn’t the primary revenue stream. Sounds too good to be true, but guess what? It is already here. You and me are just too trapped in our digital Stockholm syndrome to notice.
Here’s the ugly truth for us both.
The Fediverse isn’t some futuristic, kumbaya chanting and kumbucha drinking utopia. It is the present that we have been robbed of.
Once upon a long-long-long time, the internet was a vast, messy, and beautifully decentralized chaos. Personal blogs, niche forums, vibrant independent communities flourished freely.
Now, it’s shrunk into sterile, corporate-controlled gated communities. Every interaction tracked, every friend counted, every moment commodified.
Our entire digital life lives in Zucky’s wallet.
The Fediverse is the jailbreak I desperately need.
It’s not some vaporware crypto-scheme that is pretending to “decentralize”.
Nah.
It’s more than that.
It’s a network of independent social platforms run on open protocols like ActivityPub, where your digital identity belongs to you, not some tech bro’s psychopathic whims. Move freely without losing connections or history.
No forced resets, no corporate amnesia, just true digital autonomy. Who knew freedom could feel so goddamn revolutionary?
Sorry for the cussin’, I’m just a little over-excited and agry for what Big Tech has done to us all those years. I call it cute-agression.
But we have swallowed Big Tech’s propaganda long enough.
They have convinced us their control is normal, even necessary. But it’s bullshit, plain and simple. The internet didn’t have to become an algorithmic shopping mall designed solely for profit. Platforms like Mastodon, Pixelfed, and Lemmy prove we can do better. Real conversations, real people, real freedom.
No Silicon Valley approval needed.
The Fediverse won’t thrive simply because it’s better, but it only succeeds if you choose it.
But choose what exactly?
here it comes.
Here’s a list of Fediverse OpenWeb sites
So let me present you with a snappy crash-course on Fediverse/OpenWeb platforms, served with URLs, so you can actually click.
And yes, mine is also on their – WriteFreely.
Mastodon – Twitter’s rebellious sibling, minus Musk’s manic whims.
PixelFed – Instagram, without Zuck selling your vacation selfies to advertisers.
PeerTube – YouTube’s anarchist cousin, minus ads and monetization.
Lemmy – Reddit, but decentralized and minus power-tripping modserators Big Tech bros selling your threads for AI-training.
Friendica – Facebook’s kinder alternative that won’t hand your personal life to marketers.
Funkwhale – Spotify without vampires leeching from musicians.
BookWyrm – Goodreads liberated from Amazon’s data-harvesting claws.
WriteFreely – Medium, but without paywalls or forced subscriptions. This will be mine!
Owncast – Twitch’s indie alternative, no Bezos-controlled infrastructure required.
Hubzilla – Digital nomad-friendly social platform letting you move freely without losing your online existence.
Diaspora – Facebook’s estranged twin that respects your privacy and doesn’t sell your soul.
https://diasporafoundation.org
Pleroma – A lightweight microblogging platform for those who think Mastodon is too mainstream.
Misskey – A feature-rich microblogging platform that’s like Mastodon on steroids, for the attention-deficient.
Hubzilla – The Swiss Army knife of social networks, combining web publishing, cloud storage, and forums, because, um, why not?
Friendica – A social network that plays nice with both the Fediverse and those other platforms you’re too embarrassed to mention.
Socialhome – A platform that lets you build a personal profile with rich content, because your ego needs more space.
Mobilizon – An event management platform that won’t mine your data or sell you out to advertisers.
WriteFreely – A minimalist blogging platform for when you have profound thoughts to share, but no one to listen.
BookWyrm – A social platform for book lovers who prefer open-source over Amazon’s dystopian grip.
Funkwhale – A community-driven music platform that doesn’t shove mainstream garbage down your throat.
Owncast – A self-hosted live video streaming platform for when you want to broadcast your mediocrity without corporate oversight.
Castopod – A podcast hosting platform that doesn’t treat your content like disposable junk.
Kbin – A content aggregator and microblogging platform for those who think Reddit is too corporate.
Aardwolf – A social network that promises to be different but is probably just as disappointing as the rest.
Anfora – A photo-sharing platform for those who believe their snapshots deserve better than Instagram’s abyss.
PeerPx – Another image-sharing platform. Apparently, we can’t have enough places to post our filtered selfies.
Prismo – A link-sharing platform for those who want to escape Reddit’s karma-driven hellscape.
Plume – A federated blogging platform that lets you publish your ramblings without the need for a corporate overlord.
Zap – A social network that emphasizes privacy and decentralization, because trust is overrated.
Gancio – An event-sharing platform that believes your local happenings are worth sharing, even if no one shows up.
Bonfire – A customizable social platform that lets you build your own community, because echo chambers are fun.
Nextcloud Social – A social networking app integrated into Nextcloud, for those who want to combine file storage with social interactions.
Littr me – A minimalist link aggregator that strips away the nonsense, leaving you with just the links and your existential dread.
Distbin – A pastebin service that federates, because even your code snippets deserve an audience.
Honk – A social network that doesn’t take itself too seriously, much like your life choices.
Smithereen – A social network aiming for simplicity and privacy, because complexity is so last decade.
Guppe – A group feature for the Fediverse, allowing you to join communities without the need for a central authority.
GoToSocial – A federated social network server that lets you control your social experience, assuming you have any control left in your life.
Soapbox – A user-friendly front-end for Pleroma, making your microblogging experience slightly less miserable.
Lemmy – A link aggregator and forum platform that’s Reddit without the corporate overlords and with more anarchy.
Firefish – A microblogging platform forked from Misskey, offering a unique experience for those who like their social media spicy.
Akkoma – A Pleroma fork that adds extra features, because more is always better, right?
Glitch-Soc – A Mastodon fork with enhanced features, for those who want their microblogging experience with extra glitches.
Hometown – Another Mastodon fork, focusing on local communities, because global connections are overrated.
Soapbox – A Pleroma front-end that tries to make your social media experience less of a dumpster fire.
Bonfire – A platform that lets you build your own social network, because clearly, the world needs more social networks.
The internet was always meant to belong to us. And if you still believe in that, congrats, now you can join the digital rebellion. No kumbaya necessary.
Help the OpenWeb grow, and share this post. Because of the large number of external links, LinkedIn’s algorithm will prevent it from spreading, so it needs you to get to the attention of new folks.
Signing off from billionaire tech
Marco.
Oh? Did I ask you to take the survey?
I build AI by day and warn about it by night. I call it job security. Let’s keep smashing delusions with truth. We are the chaos. We are the firewall. We are Big Tech’s worst PR nightmare. Stick around if you like what I write.
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To keep you doomscrolling 👇
- The AI kill switch. A PR stunt or a real solution? | LinkedIn
- ‘Doomsday clock’: it is 89 seconds to midnight | LinkedIn
- AIs dirty little secret. The human cost of ‘automated’ systems | LinkedIn
- Open-Source AI. How ‘open’ became a four-letter word | LinkedIn
- One project Stargate please. That’ll be $500 Billion, sir. Would you like a bag with that? | LinkedIn
- The Paris AI Action summit. 500 billion just for “ethical AI” | LinkedIn
- People are building Tarpits to trap and trick AI scrapers | LinkedIn
- The first written warning about AI doom dates back to 1863 | LinkedIn
- How I quit chasing every AI trend (and finally got my sh** together) | LinkedIn
- The dark visitors lurking in your digital shadows | LinkedIn
- Understanding AI hallucinations | LinkedIn
- Sam’s glow-in-the-dark ambition | LinkedIn
- The $95 million apology for Siri’s secret recordings | LinkedIn
- Prediction: OpenAI will go public, and here comes the greedy shitshow | LinkedIn
- Devin the first “AI software engineer” is useless. | LinkedIn
- Self-replicating AI signals a dangerous new era | LinkedIn
- Bill says: only three jobs will survive | LinkedIn
- The AI forged in darkness | LinkedIn
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