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

Post by csommers » Sat, Aug 29, 2020, 3:39 AM UTC

avivo wrote: post #506

humanistbot wrote: post #47

The 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.

This sort of decision by Google does make me rather uncomfortable (the entire situation is uncomfortable... https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/12/20691957/mastodon-decentr... ). But it's worth understanding why the situation may be a bit more complicated than is described above. What seems to be happening is not an absolute ban on Fediverse apps , but a ban on specific implementations that make it easy to join specific…

Post by headbansown » Sat, Aug 29, 2020, 3:44 AM UTC

djsumdog wrote: post #690

avivo wrote: post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sort of decision by Google does make me rather uncomfortable (the entire situation is uncomfortable... https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/12/20691957/mastodon-decentr... ). But it's worth understanding why the situation may be a bit more complicated than is described above. What seems to be happening is not an absolute ban on Fediverse apps , but a ban on specific implementations that make it easy to join specific…

Free Speech Extremist. Shitposters Club. No Agenda Social. Lets all love Lain. There are ton of instances which much of the Fediverse blocks, but if you set up your own server and follow people on those instances, it's not 80% hate speech and racism as others would have you believe. Yes there is some of that, but there's also weebs, and anime and political discussion and weird gaming discussion and videos not posted…

Post by headbansown » Sat, Aug 29, 2020, 3:51 AM UTC

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…

Post by rbecker » Sat, Aug 29, 2020, 3:56 AM UTC

HelloMcFly wrote: post #747

core-questions wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say that, but it's a well trodden argument. > We don't have to subsidize their free use of internet resources. We subsidize the FAANG's use of internet resources; the Internet was largely originally created with public money (military, academia, etc). > They are welcome to buy their own servers or even rent them. Are they? What if they get banned from there? What if they can't collect money from their community,…

> Are they? What if they get banned from there? What if they can't collect money from their community, because all the donation sites ban them? What if their donation sites are killed because all the payment processors drop them? Your argument leads to the logical end of "they're welcome to make their own internet". This is slippery-slope nonsense, just where this conversation always ends up. You can "what if..." you…

Post by headbansown » Sat, Aug 29, 2020, 3:58 AM UTC

quanticle wrote: post #684

frank2 wrote: post #616

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The loss of control of the narrative due to the internet has been a severe setback for the powerful How was the narrative controlled by the powerful before the internet became a part of everyday life? Specifically, how was the narrative controlled in the US in the decades before 1993? I'm asking for recommendations of books written by historians, journalists and other serious people. (Understanding the situation dec…

If that is true then that suggests that the efforts of the establishment to rein the big social media companies will prove largely ineffective with the result that Facebook, Google, etc, will probably join the New York Times, Harvard, etc, as part of the governing structure of the US. That's exactly what "reining in" looks like. Instead of being an alternative to, e.g. the New York Times and opposing the next Iraq wa…