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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

#351

Post by GoblinSlayer »

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.

Reddit bans wrongthinkers and hoards cancer.

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

#354

Post by limteary »

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.

I liked /r/watchpeopledie in a morbid curiosity way.

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

#355

Post by kevingadd »

oehpr wrote: post #272
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.

I'm not deeply versed in Gab's history... But lets hypothetically say that Gab was not created for that purpose, but for precisely the purpose it claims it was created for: To be an open platform for free speech, no censorship. Wouldn't it have ended up in the exact same state it is now? Any service that guarantees no censorship is going to have the majority of its userbase be the runoff from other major websites. Wh…

This is a useless hypothetical. We know what Gab was and why it was taken down.

If you want to know how a healthy alternative would have turned out, go looking for one. It almost certainly exists, there have been at least a dozen twitter competitors in the past and I know a few people who tried them out. (I can't remember their names, though.)

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

#357

Post by Vinnl »

thelean12 wrote: post #258
jakelazaroff wrote: post #53

> Holy crap, google is apparently taking down all/most fediverse apps from google play on the grounds that that some servers in the fediverse engage in hate speech. Good thing you can't find any hate speech on Play Store–promoted corporate behemoths Twitter and Facebook!

This is a bad faith argument. Twitter and Facebook do a lot to take down hate speech from their platforms (with exceptions made for "public interest" cases like high level politicians). Some servers on the fediverse specifically allow unfettered hate speech.

But the authors of these apps have no influence over what servers you connect with. It doesn't feel much different from visiting a hate speech website using your web browser, and they (luckily) do not get banned either.

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

#358

Post by KirinDave »

oehpr wrote: post #272
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.

I'm not deeply versed in Gab's history... But lets hypothetically say that Gab was not created for that purpose, but for precisely the purpose it claims it was created for: To be an open platform for free speech, no censorship. Wouldn't it have ended up in the exact same state it is now? Any service that guarantees no censorship is going to have the majority of its userbase be the runoff from other major websites. Wh…

Gab bans people openly and credulously discussing marxism. I have experimented with and experienced this directly. So, it fails my litmus test for "an uncensored platform."

And it's a bit comical, because Gab as a community experience is much smaller (in my perspective) from even weird sites like minds or funky social blockchain plays. Why they felt the need to ban discusions of marxism or a general strike is beyond me.

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

#359

Post by ffpip »

BubuIIC wrote: post #334
ffpip wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if an app is banned from the play store, the developer can distribute it through f-droid. Even if an app is banned from the F-droid main repository, its developers can distribute it through their own F-droid repository Even if the app is banned from their own f-droid repository, the dev can distribute his source code and users can build the app with Android Studio. Even if Google bans your Android Studio account…

Alternative repositories are a first-class feature of F-Droid. Alternative app stores aren't really a first class feature of Android (though they are obviously possible, in contrast to iOS) > bans your Android Studio account Don't give them ideas. (there's thankfully no such thing as an Android Studio account)

> there's thankfully no such thing as an Android Studio account

I meant Google Account. Isn't a google account necessary for anything on developer.android.com? Sorry if I am wrong. Any url on that domain used to redirect me to a Google Login page.

Well, atleast you have to accept a Google TOS.

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

#360

Post by nescoiquid »

stinkytaco wrote: post #253
croes wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a clever trick. Make the medium you want to censor a private property than it's legal.

It's the side effect of allowing a small number of largely unregulated companies to control so much of our communications. TV and radio using public right-of-ways like radio bands are much more tightly regulated to ensure "equal time". That's not the case for social media or mobile platforms and I suspect any attempt to regulate those would be met with a great deal of resistance. Not the least complaint would be that…

The equal time doctrine was eliminated in 1987: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCC_fairness_doctrine

>> The fairness doctrine of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, was a policy that required the holders of broadcast licenses to both present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was—in the FCC's view—honest, equitable, and balanced. The FCC eliminated the policy in 1987 and removed the rule that implemented the policy from the Federal Register in August 2011.

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