There is probably more than what is being said here otherwise clients for reddit or 4chan would have been removed a long time ago.
Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store
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Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store
#32https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse " The Fediverse (a portmanteau of "federation" and "universe") is the ensemble of federated (i.e. interconnected) servers that are used for web publishing (i.e. social networking, microblogging, blogging, or websites) and file hosting, but which, while independently hosted, can communicate with each other. On different servers (instances), users can create so-called identities.…
Well said. It's always funny when some acronym no one's heard of shows up unexplained on HN.
I've seen fediverse numerous times on HN
Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store
#33Without getting into the details of this - yeah I disagree with it - but, Android allows side loading. Isn’t that what everyone wanted from Apple? On a higher level, what’s the problem and what should be changed? Google has a policy that people don’t like, Android can side load, isn’t that exactly what people want?
If you read HN you might know what sideloading is and how to do it. If you're anyone else and you even get as far as trying it (which isn't likely) you get a big scary warning about how obviously everything sideloaded is a virus and Google won't be able to scan it and you should use the play store (I don't actually know what it says, but the point is that it's a big scary warning).
The point is that sideloading presents several barriers to entry and at every extra step you'll lose a few more users. very few people will get all the way through enabling sideloading, figuring out how to actually do it with ADB or something, ignoring the scary prompts, and get all the way to actually installing and running an app. This is a nice workaround for a few people, not a solution to Google applying their policies in an aggressive way to remove apps they don't like that clearly aren't themselves dedicated to hate speech.
Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store
#34Without getting into the details of this - yeah I disagree with it - but, Android allows side loading. Isn’t that what everyone wanted from Apple? On a higher level, what’s the problem and what should be changed? Google has a policy that people don’t like, Android can side load, isn’t that exactly what people want?
Sorry to go off-topic, but the entire existence of the word 'side-loading' is some 1984-level language manipulation. As if installing applications without getting the permission of some abstract corporate owner is the weird thing. No, having to get permission is the weird way to install things.
as a computer moves ever more towards a white-label appliance with a single purpose, the act of "installing" becomes more and more alien. It sucks, but a majority of the computer-using population cares not for it, and only want it to work. Think washing machine - have you ever seen people want to install apps into their washing machine?
Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store
#35[deleted]
Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store
#36Without getting into the details of this - yeah I disagree with it - but, Android allows side loading. Isn’t that what everyone wanted from Apple? On a higher level, what’s the problem and what should be changed? Google has a policy that people don’t like, Android can side load, isn’t that exactly what people want?
It is said that sideloading in Android will essentially be disabled in an upcoming release. It will still be possible for that small handful of nerds who know how to enable developer mode and install an .apk via ADB, but for the vast majority of people, the Google Play store is only going to become further entrenched as their sole source of apps.
Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store
#37My favorite app is Tusky and is still available from F-Droid [0]. I think Tusky will be fine since they block Gab and so they won't be affected by this ban. [0] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.keylesspalace.tusky/
Fedilab is also available on f-droid and it doesn't do any silly blocking.
Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store
#38This is a hint that the next step maybe blocking certain websites in Chrome.
Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store
#39The rationale they gave is that hate speech appears on these apps, because some of the microblogging sites that can be accessed via Fediverse have this kind of content. Based on this rationale, I look forward to Google Play removing Chrome, Firefox, and all other web browsers from the store as well.
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Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store
#40Does anyone know the US case law on the 1st amendment being applied to corporate actors?
I see the argument often that things like this are a free speech violation but the 1st amendment says “Congress shall pass no law...”. It doesn’t apply to actors other than the state.
I’m not defending Google’s actions here but I also don’t think it’s technically a free speech violation at least as the amendment is written, so I’m wondering if there are any cases addressing this sort of censorship w.r.t. the 1sr amendment.