https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/12/20691957/mastodon-decentralized-social-network-gab-migration-fediverse-app-blocking
> Mastodon was built to be a kinder, more decentralized version of Twitter — > then Gab showed up > Over the past few years, Mastodon has become the model for a friendlier kind > of social network, promising to keep out the hateful or ugly content that > proliferates on larger and more centralized networks. Journalists hailed it > as “Twitter without Nazis” and for years, it’s generally lived up to that > promise. But last week, the social network Gab migrated to Mastodon — and > Mastodon’s admins have been forced to deal with the internet’s Nazi problem > head-on. > > The response has been messy. Many prominent Mastodon servers already moderate > against racism, so Gab has faced a wave of individual blocks from individual > servers. But going further has proven controversial, exposing profound > questions within the community. Before the migration, one user requested that > Mastodon add a hard-coded ban of Gab’s servers, so all instances would > automatically cut it off. It was an extreme measure, but one they argued was > warranted. “Gab has inspired mass shooters and murders,” they wrote. “You do > not understand the type of threat they represent.” > > Mastodon founder Eugen “Gargron” Rochko, meanwhile, believes a scorched-Earth > campaign against Gab’s fork of Mastodon isn’t practical. “You have to > understand it’s not actually possible to do anything platform-wide because > it’s decentralized,” he tells The Verge. “I don’t have the control.” > > It’s a hard problem, playing off the deepest limitations of decentralized > projects like Mastodon. Mastodon arose from the idealistic open-source > software movement, designed to let anybody run their own social media site. > But it was never intended to support something like Gab. While Gab has no > official political affiliation, it’s known as a haven for far-right or > explicitly fascist users too extreme for bigger networks. Its hands-off > moderation approach is antithetical to many supporters of Mastodon, whose > creator has officially stated he’s “completely opposed to Gab’s project and > philosophy.” > > For parts of Mastodon, Gab’s move is an unfortunate byproduct of running an > open platform. For others, it’s an existential threat — or an opportunity to > take a moral stand. > Mastodon looks like Twitter at first glance. Users can post 500-character > messages called “toots” (a name chosen by an early financial backer), repost > or “boost” messages on their own timeline, and follow or privately message > other users. But instead of a single site run by a company, it’s a software > platform built on the open-source ActivityPub protocol. “Mastodon is > essentially a way to host a social media website,” explains Rochko. > > Since its launch in 2016, Mastodon users have set up thousands of these > websites. (One unofficial directory lists around 2,500 as currently online.) > They include generalist forums like Rochko’s own Mastodon.Social, as well as > interest-based communities like Fosstodon — for open-source software > enthusiasts — and Sinblr, for exiled Tumblr porn creators. Some instances are > essentially experiments, like Dolphin.Town, where posts must contain only the > letter “e.” > > Many Mastodon instances hold users to a higher standard than bigger social > networks. On Gab, meanwhile, users post a striking amount of hate content and > have protested even very limited moderation. As of this writing, the Gab > timeline’s first page features a warning about “International Jewry,” a > string of posts with the hashtags “#eugenism” and “#ethnostate,” and a > political cartoon of four lynched bodies (marked with an LGBT Pride rainbow, > a Star of David, a Black Power fist, and a feminist symbol) above the caption > “SOON.” > > Mastodon isn’t a social networking website — it’s a way to host one yourself > Some Gab content has crossed the line into criminal activity. The UK jailed > two teenage neo-Nazis in June for posting terrorist propaganda. Florida > police also arrested a user last month for posting racist threats and > possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. And in 2018, a man posted an > anti-Semitic Gab message just before killing 11 members of a synagogue in > Pittsburgh. Gab denies that it condones hatred — CEO Andrew Torba says it > simply allows any speech that’s “legal in the United States” with a few > exceptions. It correctly notes that Facebook and Twitter also contain hate > speech and violent threats. Gab is far smaller than these sites, however, and > its bad posts are particularly concentrated. > > When Gab migrated to Mastodon, that content threatened to spill into the > larger platform. Mastodon is organized into a “Fediverse,” which means that > users on one instance can follow and interact with users from another. It > helps make Mastodon feel like a single community, but by default, it could > make users from one instance vulnerable to trolls from another. Fortunately, > administrators can block instances, too, keeping out any posts or users from > that server. > > So far, that’s been the default response to Gab. Mastodon’s official site > will only list instances that follow the Mastodon Server Covenant. The > covenant mandates “active moderation against racism, sexism, homophobia, and > transphobia” — which pretty much nixes any contact with Gab. For Rochko, it > seems like the clearest way forward. “The software that powers Mastodon is > released under an open-source free software license, which means anybody can > use it,” he says. “And you know, that offers a great number of benefits — but > some disadvantages.” > > If you join a major Mastodon instance right now, chances are you won’t be > connected to Gab. “All the admins that I know, that I interact with myself, > have already blocked Gab,” says Rochko — including Mastodon.Social. > “Essentially, they’re isolated.” > Gab may not need the Fediverse. It’s not dependent on Mastodon for hosting, > payment processing, domain registration, or other basic infrastructure. While > a recent Motherboard article quotes Gab saying it’s become “unstoppable” > thanks to Mastodon, Mastodon really seems to solve one big problem: mobile > app access. > > Apple and Google both kicked Gab out of their app stores years ago. Moving to > Mastodon gives users a built-in suite of apps to choose from, filling one of > the social network’s biggest feature gaps. Gab had apparently returned to the > Google Play Store as of July 10th, but even so, the Mastodon protocol ensures > that users have lots of backup options if it’s banned again. > > This has turned app access into a battlefield. Developers can lock Gab out by > disabling login options to the instance or completely blocking content from > its servers. And several have done just that. Mastodon lists six major mobile > apps on its homepage. Four of them — the Android client Tusky and the iOS > apps Toot!, Mast, and Amaroq — block Gab in some fashion. > > “If hate speech is masquerading as free speech on an app I’ve built, it’s > upon myself to somehow moderate that.” > Amaroq developer John Gabelmann banned Gab to avoid potential problems with > the App Store. “My core objective is to keep Amaroq publicly available and to > abide by all Apple policies, which keep unmoderated extremist/hateful content > off the store,” he tells The Verge. “If your network is large enough and > unmoderated enough to get the negative attention of Apple, Amaroq will follow > Apple’s policies.” > > Mast’s creator Shihab Mehboob, by contrast, blocked Gab after users requested > it. He’s gotten one-star reviews from angry Gab users, but “if hate speech is > masquerading as free speech on an app I’ve built, it’s upon myself to somehow > moderate that and reduce it where possible,” he says. “I understand that the > Fediverse is intended to be open and entirely at the user’s discretion as to > what they want to see/use/partake in, but that shouldn’t cover Nazi-based > ideologies. There has to be a line drawn somewhere.” > > “If Google wants to ban it, they should start from their Chrome web browser.” > Other app developers maintain that this blocking doesn’t fit Mastodon’s > mission. The Android-based Fedilab app’s free version initially blocked Gab > because of Play Store content policy fears. But the ban has since been > lifted. “I will simply not block instances with the app,” wrote Fedilab’s > developer. “I clearly think that’s not my role … If you want a strong block, > it’s in the hands of social network developers or your admins.” > > And the developer of Subway Tooter, who goes by Tateisu, is skeptical that > stores will censure apps for supporting Gab. “They can run their web app on a > web browser,” Tateisu points out. “If Google wants to ban it, they should > start from their Chrome web browser.” > Gab calls itself the largest Mastodon instance, boasting over a million > accounts before migration. That number is almost double the user base of the > previous largest listed instance, Japanese-language forum Pawoo.net, and > triple the base of Mastodon.Social, the next-largest instance. > > Rochko disputes the million-account statistic, since people signed up for > those accounts before Gab moved to Mastodon, and we don’t know how many of > them are still active. He also notes that Mastodon communities are often > intentionally small; some limit registration or stop accepting new users > after a certain point. While Gab has sought status as a direct peer of the > “Big Tech” sites it loathes, Mastodon’s big draw is intimacy — four days > after the migration, programmer Darius Kazemi published a guide specifically > extolling the virtues of tiny communities. > > Some Gab users have reveled in the idea that they’re invading the platform. > One illustrated the move with a shot from The Shining, labeling an > axe-wielding Jack Nicholson “Gab” and tagging a screaming Shelley Duvall as > Mastodon. But joining Mastodon isn’t like flooding a traditional, centralized > social network. If most instances block Gab, being one of the largest > Mastodon nodes could be more like becoming the largest group to build a site > with WordPress or start a workspace on Slack: more of a bragging right than a > takeover. > > Gab calls itself the biggest Mastodon node, but it’s complicated > It’s unclear how much Gab users are interacting with other parts of the > Fediverse. The administrators of one prominent Mastodon instance, who asked > not to be named out of fear of harassment, said they had not noticed > Gab-related activity on their server. On the other hand, another admin who > spoke anonymously said they had seen “an increasing number of reports from > users about people picking fights and harassing users — mostly over > transgender issues.” > > Even without direct action, the administrator said that the basic anxiety of > having Gab on the Fediverse has put people on edge. When one user misgendered > another genuinely by mistake, the admin mentioned, they were also dogpiled > with accusations of coming from Gab. “People are acting more paranoid, but I > can’t say I blame them.” > > Mastodon has certainly faced problems before Gab. Among other things, The > Daily Dot reported early this year that some marginalized users felt ignored > or underappreciated on the platform, including some who said they left > because of problems with Rochko’s development process. But Gab’s migration > seems to hit at the core of Mastodon’s mission, setting two founding > principles — safety and openness — at odds with each other. > > Even Gab’s de facto defenders don’t tend to argue much about its content. > (The creator of Subway Tooter apologized for coming off as insensitive about > “the Nazi problem.”) Instead, the battle lines seem drawn over whether to > help individual users and admins avoid interacting with the instance, or > whether to push Gab away from Mastodon as far as possible by any means > necessary. > > Mastodon is meant to be open — but it also wants to be safe > When Tusky blocked Gab, a poster on repository F-Droid suggested that the app > should no longer be considered free software — saying that even if Tusky met > the letter of open source law, it violated its spirit by building censorship > into the code. Another user countered by asking for a “promotes bigotry” flag > on Fedilab for allowing Gab logins. “This isn’t about freedom of speech. It’s > about the enabling of hatred towards specific groups,” wrote the user, who > says that she’s been assaulted for being a transgender woman. “I’m not asking > for apps to block, only to know which apps aren’t actively fighting against > intolerance of others.” > > Mastodon’s conundrum is a microcosm of a much larger conflict online. The > internet has given billions of people a way to amplify their voices, but the > trade-offs have become tangible. Abolishing gatekeepers can allow > misinformation and hate to flourish. Uncensored online forums can become > co-opted by bigots and harassers, silencing their less powerful targets. And > in the face of violent supremacist movements targeting real people, openness > — once an uncontroversial pillar of internet culture — can seem like a > hopelessly abstract principle. > > Right now, Mastodon and its members are navigating between two bad options. > If they completely ignore Gab, they could end up as a less welcoming > community for marginalized people. But if they go to war, they risk > fracturing Mastodon in the process. And either way, for the moment, Gab has > arguably upstaged the work of admins and developers who have been nurturing > their communities for years. > > At the end of my conversation with Rochko, I ask if he has any last comments. > “It’s just unfortunate that these are the circumstances that we’re talking > about Mastodon again,” he tells me. “I would much prefer it was something > specifically about Mastodon. Rather than, you know, Gab.” -- Kim Holburn IT Network & Security Consultant T: +61 2 61402408 M: +61 404072753 mailto:[email protected] aim://kimholburn skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
