Fediverse
Fediverse is a loose term for a network of social network servers which form an alternative to centralized social network platforms like Twitter. Fediverse servers use the open ActivityPub standard to share content users on individual servers between the servers in the network. A variety of software such as Mastodon and Pleroma can be used to run Fediverse servers. Individual servers have widely different communities, policies and features. Some have draconian censorship-policies and others have a clear pro free speech stance.
Public Fediverse Servers
| url | policy | software | focus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| elekk.xyz | heavily censored | Mastodon | closed for registrations due to influx of people able to make up their own mind | |
| fedi.z0ne.moe | uncensored | Pleroma | friendly server with focus on drawing(s) | |
| freespeechextremist.com | uncensored | Pleroma | general talk | |
| gab.com | uncensored | Own Mastodon fork | anime and general talk | |
| juche.town | uncensored | Pleroma | some kind of town | |
| kawen.space | unknown | Pleroma | The Pillow Fort of Pleroma Instances. Very pink. Looks comfy. | |
| liberdon.com | uncensored | Mastodon | For libertarians, ancaps, anarchists, etc | |
| mastodon.social | heavily censored | Mastodon | 白左 báizuǒ discussing how everything is offensive | |
| mastodon.xyz | censored | Mastodon | general talk | |
| mstdn.io | uncensored[1] | Mastodon | 白左 báizuǒ | |
| niu.moe | uncensored | Mastodon | general talk | |
| pl.smuglo.li | uncensored | Pleroma | not work safe | |
| snabelen.no | heavily censored | Mastodon | Norwegian language content. Mostly harmless posts about farming[2] | |
| todon.nl[3] | censored | Mastodon | 聖母婊 hangout | |
| theres.life | unknown | Mastodon | Jesus Christ | |
| wxw.moe | uncensored | Mastodon | moe |
A few of the "censored" servers try to censor more than just their own platform. Some, like todon.nl, have administrators who go out of their way to dox and research people's private life and ban people for having some post in some old blog or something.
Mobile applications
Fedilab
Fedilab is a good choice if you are looking for a Android application to use with fediverse servers running Mastodon or Pleroma.
Fedilab does cost money in the Google Play store. It is available for free in the free software F-Droid app-store: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/fr.gouv.etalab.mastodon/
Tootdon
The developers of the mobile software Tootdon decided to shut it down in July 2019 when they realized that a large amount of users were using this application to by-pass the built-in censorship in other mobile Masterdon client applications.
Tusky
The mobile phone application Tusky for accessing the Mastodon network has censorship built into the application. Some ActivityPub-compatible instances can simply not be used by the Tusky mobile application due to it's built-in blacklist.
Tusky's "Community Manger" Marie Axelsson claimed that "This is not censorship, but rather a choice by this house who will facilitate our service to" in a commit June 2019.
A built-in blacklist is of course censorship. Someone trying to decide what you can and can't see and read for you is the very definition of censorship. It is also worth considering if an app is the service it's users are interested in or if it's like a web browser used to access services on the Internet. Other comparisons to web browsers are worth thinking about: There are currently no web browsers who will go "you can't have that domain because we don't like the opinions shared on that one". And that's a good thing.
notes
- ↑ The mstdn.io instances administrator appears to be constantly harassed because he does not want to censor gab.com
- ↑ https://snabelen.no/@Jordbruket
- ↑ todon.nl's censorship goes beyond their own website. the administrator actively researches users and ban them for writing things elsewhere
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