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Use-open-platforms-or-else.md (3596B)


  1. ---
  2. title: Use open platforms — or else
  3. date: 2021-01-28
  4. ---
  5. The ongoing events around [/r/wallstreetbets][0] teaches us, once again, about
  6. the value of open platforms, and the tremendous *risk* involved in using
  7. proprietary platforms. The economic elites who control those proprietary
  8. platforms, backed by their venture capital interests, *will* shut us down if we
  9. threaten them. We're taking serious risk by casting our lot with them.
  10. [0]: https://old.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets
  11. [Discord][1], a proprietary instant messaging and VoIP platform, kicked out the
  12. /r/WSB community yesterday. They claimed it was due to spam and abuse from bots.
  13. These are convenient excuses when considered in the broader context of Discord's
  14. conflict of interest, between its retail investor users and its wall-street
  15. investor backers. However, even if we take their explanation at face value, we
  16. can easily question Discord's draconian policies about its proprietary chat
  17. protocol. They have a history of cracking down on third-party bots and clients
  18. with the same excuses of preventing spam and abuse. If Discord accepts
  19. responsibility for preventing spam and abuse, then why are they deplatforming
  20. users when they, Discord, failed to prevent it?
  21. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discord_(software)
  22. It's all a lie. They use a proprietary protocol and crack down on third-party
  23. implementations because they demand total control over their users. They
  24. deplatformed /r/WSB because they were financially threatened by them. Discord
  25. acts in their own interests, including when they are against the interests of
  26. their users. In the words of Rohan Kumar, they're trying to [domesticate their
  27. users][2]. It's the same with every corporate-operated platform. Betting that
  28. Reddit will ultimately shut down /r/WSB is probably a stronger bet than buying
  29. GME!
  30. [2]: https://seirdy.one/2021/01/27/whatsapp-and-the-domestication-of-users.html
  31. But there is another way: free and open platforms, protocols, and standards.
  32. Instead of Discord, I could recommend [Matrix](https://matrix.org),
  33. [IRC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat), or
  34. [Mumble](https://www.mumble.info). These are not based on central corporate
  35. ownership, but instead on publicly available standards that anyone can build
  36. on top of. The ownership of these platforms is distributed between its users,
  37. and thus aligned with their incentives.
  38. Federation is also a really compelling solution. Unlike Discord and Reddit,
  39. which are centrally owned and operated, federated software calls for many
  40. independent server operators to run instances which are responsible for tens or
  41. hundreds of users each. Each of these servers then use standardized protocols to
  42. communicate with each other, forming one cohesive, distributed social network.
  43. Matrix and IRC are both federated protocols, for example. Others include
  44. [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/), which is similar to Twitter in function;
  45. [PeerTube](https://joinpeertube.org/en), for hosting videos and live streams;
  46. and [Lemmy](https://join.lemmy.ml/), which is a federated equivalent of Reddit.
  47. These are the alternatives. These platforms lack that crucial conflict of
  48. interest which is getting us kicked off of the corporate owned platforms. These
  49. are the facts: open platforms are the only ones align with the interests of
  50. their users, and closed platforms exploit their users. Once you recognize this,
  51. you should jump ship *before* you're deplatformed, or else you're risking your
  52. ability to organize yourselves to move to another platform. Use open platforms —
  53. or else. Do it today.