I think your position is very reasonable. I want to point out that I don’t hold any malice towards the instance admins. I have thought .world admins have been great. But I fundamentally disagree with the decision to federate Threads and want to voice reasonable dissent.
I am personally invested in this platform and community, and I am impassioned in stating my case. I don’t want my assertive arguments to be taken as anger or malice.
There’s no reason to wait.
Look right now, and see that there’s enough justification to say no to federating with Threads.
What’s more concerning is the hate, extremism, and misinformation that will be coming from Threads.
That is the actual problem and where the level of concern and majority disinterest in Threads federation stems from.
Ah yes, how could I have forgotten!?
They are seriously comic-book villain level evil, and I find it mind-boggling that federation with Threads is even a consideration, let alone the plan…
I wanted to add that repetition is key in the process with which people are radicalized. It typically involves an individual who is in a vulnerable state (job loss, interpersonal hardship, injury) and the individual is exposed to repeated misinformation/extremism, and this is then reinforced by the radical in-group. [1]
Radicalism spreads through a social contagion effect, and social media (including lemmy and reddit) can act as a catalyst which facilitates the spread of extremism. [1]
This information is covered in this article I published on my blog explaining how people become radicalized. (I have ads turned off and do not benefit in any way from my blog. It’s purpose is to share information.)
I wrote that article partly selfishly to wrap my head around family I have lost to Far-Right radicalism. It is essentially a literature review, and it’s well-cited and thoroughly explains the process of radicalization. I’ll also add that this is in my field of study/career, and I’m working on my Master’s in Clinical Counseling.
It is very relevant here, as the federation with Threads will allow for the extremism permeating Threads to seep into our instance, even if the individual user blocks them. (Remember, blocking Threads won’t stop Threads users’ comments from being displayed here.)
This opens the doorway for vulnerable individuals in our instance to have their rationality chipped away until they lose their self-identity and experience identity fusion with a radical group. [2]
If instances federate with Threads, they are deciding to put their users at risk, and hold culpability in the loss of self-identities, fractured families, extremism, and real-world consequences that could subsequently result from federation with Threads.
I forgot about that quote haha. That’s such a great retort to this “wait and see” approach.
Pay attention @Ruud, this is what Mark Zuckerberg thinks of you.
Voice your opposition before the decision is implemented. I know I’m jumping ship if Threads ends up being federated with.
I see many people purporting that users blocking Threads on an individual basis as a solution, but it’s not… Blocking Threads will not prevent Threads users’ comments in federated instances from showing up.
Even if you block Threads, you will still see hateful, harassing, and extremist content and misinformation.
Furthermore, even if it did block Threads engagement entirely on an individual blocking basis, it is still a failure on the instance admins to adequately protect their users and cultivate a healthy community.
.world admins defederated with exploding heads due to hate, harassment, and extremism/misinformation. Why would they then federate with Threads which harbors the same toxic users?
It’s a move to bring more users into the Fediverse, but it comes with costs and risks that do not justify the short-sighted gain of more users and inching towards becoming mainstream.
Threads has been subject to mass amounts of radicalizing, extremist content, and there have also been instances of users having personal information doxxed on Threads due to Meta’s information-harvesting practices. [1]
Threads was marketed to be open to ‘free speech’ (read: hate speech and misinformation) and encouraged the Far-Right movement to join, who have spread extremism, hate, and harassment on Threads already. [2] Threads has been a hotbed of Israel-Palestine misinformation/propaganda. [3]
They fired fact-checkers just prior to Threads’ launch [1], however they claim they will have 3rd party fact-checkers next year. [4]
Meta/FB/Instagram has a rampant history of illegal and unethical practices, including running experiments on their users which affected their moods and induced depression in many uninformed, non-consenting subjects. [5] Such unethical experiments could affect federated users as well.
(Edit: As @massive_bereavement reminded me, Meta also assisted in genocide! [6])
Meta/FB/Instagram also have a strong history of facilitating the spread of misinformation and extremism, which contributed to the January 6th insurrection attempt. [7]
If exploding heads was defederated with because of this sort of toxic extremism, why would they want to federate with a platform plagued by that same content? One known for shortcomings moderating it? And one which comes from a company with a long history of unethical and illegal practices regarding users?
Due to these issues and Meta’s rampant history of unethical and illegal business practices, there should be no federation with Threads for the well-being of the users in this instance.
I have donated to the .world instance since my first week here, but should they continue with federating with Threads, I will be cancelling my donations and finding an instance that won’t undermine the safety and well-being of their users for a boost of (largely toxic) new users and an inch towards being mainstream.
The gains are immediate but minimal, and come at great costs which do not warrant federating with Threads (IMO).
Blocking Threads on the instance user level does not block Threads users from commenting and spreading radicalism/misinformation throughout federated instances. It’s a half-measure. To actually block Threads, it requires the instance to defederate.
I’m ethically opposed to federation because it is with a platform plagued by hate, radicalism, and misinformation. [1] Including being a hotbed for Israel-Palestine misinformation. [2]
I think it’s hypocritical to defederate from exploding heads and to then federate with Threads which harbors the same harmful content and toxic userbase.
If lemmy.world goes through with federating with Threads, I’m out of here and my donations to the instance are too.
Man, I can’t believe the hot stove burned me, again!
Maybe next time will be different…
This does not stop user comments from Threads. They will still be visible throughout .world/federated instances, where they can spread more misinformation and radicalism.
If anyone is interested in the very long list of unethical and illegal practices of Meta, here’s some of their rampant inexcusable and repeated shitty practices!
That’s what I meant by harm reduction.
Another big problem with vaping is electronic waste/pollution (especially with the cheap disposables).
You also have to worry about cheap atomizers leeching heavy metals into the vapor.
Haha, you’re either trolling or can’t comprehend use of an analogy. I hope for your sake that you’re trolling me.
My policy is not to feed trolls, so I’m not going to keep fueling this. This obviously isn’t going anywhere anyway, seeing as how you’re arguing in a circle.
Feel free to get the last word in and feel like you “won” an argument or whatever you think.
Man… I’m having deja vu…
What are you even talking about? Making what up?
Are you confused by my analogy I put in quotes?
Yes, I can count…
Someone voiced struggling with addiction and your overly simplistic response could easily be interpreted negatively in a demeaning way.
Person 1: “I’m having so much trouble with my obesity…”
Person 2: “People can lose weight.”
Can you see how that is not very helpful and potentially demeaning? How someone can feel that trivializes their struggle?
If you had stated something like “Addiction is so difficult, but it can be broken. Don’t give up hope.” That is totally different.
Nicely done! That’s how vapes should be used; as a means of harm reduction/tapering off, not as a ‘healthy’ replacement as some people view them to be.
When I would take clients to a smoking cessation therapist, one fact that she would cite was the fact that quitting cigarettes is more difficult than quitting heroin.
I would also be told anecdotally by many of my clients that it was harder to quit than other hard drugs like meth and one person even said crack.
It can certainly be broken, but addiction is a disease and your comment could come off as condescendingly minimizing an incredibly difficult task.
There’s plenty of justification not to federate beyond the extremism, from the unethical experiments they conduct on their users to their aiding in genocide.