Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

qoto.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 996 posts

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#261

Post by gambler »

viro wrote: post #91
john_moscow wrote: post #64

For anyone else concerned with the recent Big Tech censorship, people are actively building alternative social medial platforms and they are taking off. The RedditAlternatives subreddit [0] provides a fairly good overview of them. Some are rather extreme, others are more reasonable, but there are alternatives, and it's up to us, the reasonable people, to choose where we want to spend our time and money. [0] https://w…

When your content is too cancerous for Reddit ...maybe the issue isn't Reddit.

This sort of sloganistic un-logic that constantly gets up-voted here is a great reminder that most tech people aren't mature enough to make decisions about how the rest of the society communicates.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#262

Post by simias »

gruez wrote: post #211
gilrain wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A reminder that Gab is not a gray area edgecase, but a purpose-built platform for conspiracies and hate speech.

>but a purpose-built platform for conspiracies and hate speech Can you elaborate on this?

https://gab.com/

Just decide for yourself. Literally the first post I get at the moment comes from "QAnon and the Great Awakening" and is in support of that right-wing vigilante shooter in Kenosha, calling the district attorney who's prosecuting him "evil".

The next few posts I see mention either "arresting the dems", some anti-vax stuff and so many crypto-fascist dogwhistles that I'm getting tinnitus.

If you need more proof I'll let you ding into this.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#263

Post by djsumdog »

zeveb wrote: post #140

When I opened up YT Music today, almost the entire scree was taken up by a link to a political playlist. I don't want to participate in politics — I just want to listen to some background music while I work. Why is Googling silencing one bunch of creators and promoting another bunch? How is this good for Google, the country or the world?

Big tech is directly influencing people today in the way so many screamed "The Russians" were influencing us in 2016 (and back during McCarthy).

I have a 500GB microSD card on my phone with all my music. I've been collecting it for decades, many from artists I meet in bars and pubs. I buy off Bandcamp when I have to, which only charges 15%, compared to Google/Amazon/Apple which charge 30%+, or streaming services that pay artists pennies.

Take control of your music. Download it, buy it DRM free, save it, back it up.

Take control of your video feed. Subscribe to YouTube channels using an RSS reader. Use 3rd party frontends like Invidious.

If you're and tech and know how to do this, than do it, and help write posts to show how others can too.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#264

Post by crocodiletears »

angio wrote: post #112
crocodiletears wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been looking for a good client. Can you disable the block on Gab? I know the place is a cesspool, but I don't like the idea of missing content because an app developer doesn't like an instance.

There's Husky, a fork of Tusky that allows users connect to Gab.

Thanks, that's good to know.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#265

Post by egypturnash »

newacct583 wrote: post #108
matsemann wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven't podcasts apps recently been removed as well? Something about it being possible to listen to stuff about covid on them. Edit, found it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23219427 And well, they should probably remove the apps of Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc as it's plenty of hate speech there too.

They didn't remove Podcast Addict, it's right here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bambuna.po... That was a mistake, presumably. It's likely this is too. The deep desire on the part of posters here to assume malice and scream CENSORSHIP is really off-putting. I actually don't know anything about fediverse, but if it's like other pseudoanonymous obscure communications media it's probably filled with…

The fediverse is very split, you have some servers that are run by people who post straight up Nazi symbolism on their admin accounts, and you have some servers that have admins who will happily participate in piling on someone for appearing Insufficiently Woke. I block both kinds on my server because I just want a nice quiet place to talk with my friends, and that's a definite segment of the Fediverse too.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#266

Post by luckylion »

drdeca wrote: post #110
quotemstr wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So? Any platform free of censorship is going to have some speech you dislike.

There’s a difference between “has some of it” and “is full of it”. As SSC says, even if witch hunts are genuinely bad, if you found a town with the founding principle of having no witch hunts, you will end up with a town with 5 genuine civil libertarians, and 100 witches. I think an interesting strategy would be to found a site with an initially high level of censorship, but a public commitment to reduce the amount/d…

Unless there's a limitless supply of witches somewhere, the more witch-hunt-free towns there are, the more the witches will be distributed among those towns, because witches aren't a homogeneous group either.

So in theory, voat & co should either shrink or get less radical the more reddit-alternatives there are. That is, unless reddit is turning normal people into witches that will then populate the new alternative platforms.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#267

Post by snypher »

gruez wrote: post #211
gilrain wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A reminder that Gab is not a gray area edgecase, but a purpose-built platform for conspiracies and hate speech.

>but a purpose-built platform for conspiracies and hate speech Can you elaborate on this?

A good start is the Wikipedia page;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gab_(social_network)

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#268

Post by seaish »

rchaud wrote: post #189

Taking it outside of the walled garden should always be Step 1 for apps like this. PWAs exist, and most users these days have seen the "Add to Home Screen" prompt on websites. There is no reason for this to be a native app. > This is particularly worrisome because for most people Google Play is the only way they understand to install apps at all. I disagree. Users dependent on installing apps are the least likely to…

You can of course run your own instance, but yes, you can also just make an account. You need to decide which instance you're going to make it on, but after that it's 100% the same as any other website.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#269

Post by notyourday »

stillbourne wrote: post #245
thomascgalvin wrote: post #169

> Like hate speech is bad and it’s not censorship if it’s not mandated by the government. To be fully accurate, this is absolutely censorship , but it's not a violation of anyone's First Amendment rights. People often conflate the two. We can argue about whether or not Google should ban certain opinions on their platform, or where the line should be drawn, but it is arguable that hey have the legal right to do so. An…

> To be fully accurate, this is absolutely censorship, but it's not a violation of anyone's First Amendment rights. People often conflate the two. It's not censorship, its moderation and editorial discretion.

Great. Google should become liable for all the illegal content that slips through, all the way to the officers and directors of the company.

I think we as the society agree that child porn and child sexual abuse is a criminally punishable offense. A platform in a possession of it clearly is in a possession and distribution of child pornography, hence officers and directors should be charged under those statues.

Re: Google is apparently taking down all/most Fediverse apps from the Play Store

#270

Post by Sargos »

jariel wrote: post #15
amadeuspagel wrote: post #2

There was a thread on twitter recently about how app stores would have rejected the first web browser, asking what future innovations might not happen due to them. Guess federated social media is a part of the answer.

The problem is the 'App Stores'. Think of them as retail outlets, in a mall. Do you see shady stuff going on there? Would 'The Gap' sell porn to increase profits by 15%? Of course not. And for obvious reasons. We shouldn't think of 'App Stores' as some kind of truly open marketplaces, any more than a shopping mall is. What we need is just more independent means of distribution.

These threads make it obvious that most people would be okay with malls being the only place where shopping is allowed to happen.

"Our local mall is great, I don't see a need for any other malls or standalone stores. Malls provide an air conditioned space, on-site site security, and even refreshments while you shop."

I think it stems from a lack of empathy for others. I don't buy dildos so I see no reason to allow dildo stores to exist.

Post reply on HN