Decentralized Social Media Platforms : this is what we need (•̀ᴗ•́)و

· Updated · 3 min read · by Adrien Lopez

Would you give all your data to the same company? We all do it anyway, by accepting long and unread terms and conditions. Decentralised, open source social networks such as Mastodon, the Fediverse and Bluesky offer respectful alternatives. Here is how they work and how to switch.

From Twitter to Mastodon

Would you agree to give all your photos, messages, contacts and opinions to a single company? Certainly not. Yet we all do it, every day, by accepting the long and unread terms of the big social networks. It is a habit that can stop as soon as we are aware of it, and of the alternatives. That is precisely what I want to talk about.

The problem with centralised social media

Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) or TikTok all share the same architecture: one company owns the servers, the data, the algorithm and the rules. This creates several problems:

  • Your data is the product. Business models rely on profiling you to sell targeted advertising.
  • Opaque algorithms decide what you see, optimising for engagement and outrage rather than quality.
  • Lock-in. Your followers and your content are prisoners of the platform. If you leave, you start from zero.
  • Single point of control. Rules can change overnight with a new owner, as many users discovered after 2022.

The only real advantage of these platforms is the number of people on them. That is why we should promote alternatives that are respectful and user-friendly.

What does "decentralised" mean?

A decentralised social network is not run by a single company. It is made of many independent servers ("instances") run by associations, companies, universities or individuals, that talk to each other through an open protocol. It works like email: you can have a Gmail address and write to someone using Proton or their company's server.

Why does it matter?

  • You can choose where your data lives: in your city, on a friend's server, in your country, or on your own server.
  • Each community can set its own moderation rules.
  • No one can buy the whole network.
  • The software is open source: anyone can audit it, improve it and host it.

Note that decentralisation does not require a blockchain or a token. Many "web3" social networks create their own crypto-currency; in my opinion it is not a must-have. For a social network I want people, a good user experience and control over my data.

The Fediverse and ActivityPub

The largest decentralised ecosystem today is the Fediverse, built on ActivityPub, an open standard published by the W3C in 2018. Thousands of servers running different software can follow each other:

  • Mastodon: the microblogging alternative to X/Twitter, created in 2016 by Eugen Rochko in Germany. It is the most popular Fediverse software.
  • Pixelfed: photo sharing, an alternative to Instagram.
  • PeerTube: video hosting, developed by the French non-profit Framasoft, an alternative to YouTube.
  • Lemmy: forums and link aggregation, an alternative to Reddit.
  • Friendica and Diaspora: alternatives to Facebook-like feeds. Diaspora, launched in 2010, was one of the pioneers but uses its own protocol.

Big players joined the movement: Meta's Threads is progressively federating with ActivityPub, and many media outlets, governments and universities now host their own Mastodon servers.

Bluesky and the AT Protocol

Bluesky takes another approach with the AT Protocol: users own a portable identity (based on their domain name) and can move their data between providers, while feeds and moderation are customisable. It is less decentralised than the Fediverse in practice, but its user experience brought millions of people to open social networking. Bridges now connect Bluesky and the Fediverse.

How to get started with Mastodon

  1. Pick a server on joinmastodon.org: a general one, a regional one or a thematic one (tech, art, science...). Don't worry, you can migrate later and keep your followers.
  2. Create your profile and write an #introduction post with a few hashtags about your interests.
  3. Follow hashtags and people. There is no algorithm pushing content: your timeline is what you choose to follow.
  4. Use an app you like: the official one, or third-party apps such as Ivory, Tusky or Elk.
  5. Verify your website with a rel="me" link to get a green check mark on your profile, no subscription required.

Why it matters

Social networks are the public square of the 21st century. Leaving it in the hands of a few companies is a risk for privacy, democracy and digital sovereignty. Decentralised, open source alternatives give that power back to communities. The more of us join, the more the network effect works in their favour.

Resources

To go further on data ownership, read why Nextcloud is the anti-GAFAM cloud solution.

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