this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2025
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Privacy

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John Oliver cited a 5000% rise in search queries related to leaving Meta and deleting accounts. Among the topics mentioned in the analysis, attention was drawn to early Facebook's naivete with regard to moderation requirements, the constitutional framework, and a history of governmental interference.

Oliver debunks common right-wing "cry censorship" talking points, as well as the objective difficulty of moderation endeavors, and how direct threats by Trump may have influenced Zuckerberg's turnaround.

Oliver went on to suggest Signal, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Pixelfed as alternatives that "do not seem as desperate to fall in line with Trump". For those reluctant to completely ditch Meta, Oliver revealed a new site with step-by-step instructions to "make yourself less valuable to them".

The guide was a collaboration with the EFF, and includes settings' tweaks for Facebook and Meta, whose 98% of revenue comes from micro-targeting ads, the host previously cited, to increase privacy, and recommends Firefox, Privacy Badger, as "other measures" to take in order "to block advertisers and other third parties from tracking you".

The segment culminated in a mock advert, in which the new Meta's approach to moderation is coined as "Fuck it", and hints to racism, internet scams, and calls to genocide running rampant on Meta's platforms.

The clip reminds the origins of Facebook as a site to "rank college girls by hotness", and its implication in genocide in Myanmar, which was more thoroughly discussed in an Oliver's previous special on Facebook in 2018.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 1 week ago (9 children)

Why don't stories like this EVER mention Lemmy?

[–] [email protected] 86 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Well, I get that Lemmy is an alternative social media, but it's not really an alternative to Facebook. Anonymous usernames, text-based posts, you can't follow people, Fediverse is somewhat confusing.. I'd recommend it as an alternative to Reddit, but probably not the website where boomers want to check up on their neighbors and friends

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 week ago

you can't follow people

Challenge accepted

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

That's what Friendica is for

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

you can’t follow people

He said "Lemmy" but probably meant "Threadiverse", and mbin does support both the Twitter-style following user model and the Reddit-style forum model.

To use fedia.io as an example:

https://fedia.io/people

I dunno about piefed, haven't used it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

What are the best mbins these days? I'm out of the loop.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 week ago

I guess the hate for Reddit isn't as great as for Shitter and Fakebook. (yet)

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago

it's not an alternative to any meta platform

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Because Lemmy is nowhere near as ready for primetime as other platforms.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

Eh, Lemmy is way more mature as a platform than PixelFed is, and he mentioned that.

I think the explanation being in relation to what it's intended to replace is more likely. He doesn't care as much about getting people off Reddit as he cares about getting people off Zuck and Musk's platforms.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I reckon Lemmy is actually pretty good. I wouldn't know if the mobile apps are good, because I don't use those - but for me the core functionality of Lemmy on my computer is smooth and functional. I don't see any obvious low-hanging-fruit.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I ditched reddit for Lemmy during the whole API crackdown bs. I've only used Voyager, but it seems quite comparable to RIF, which is the only way I ever viewed reddit.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I used RIF, but ended up using Jerboa for some random reason I can't remember. Will check out Voyager.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

I think Jerboa was being pitched as the best RiF alternative super early on in the exodus. I also found myself on it but it never clicked for me.

I was on Connect for a while but there were some things that were a bit harder than they needed to be with different account/instance/filter management. Moved to Voyager and I'm quite happy with it, very smooth experience.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Lemmy is good for the size. It took a while for Lemmy to adjust to its current scale, with major instances having uptime issues.

If we keep the servers up, there is still issues with spam and moderation. We don't have the tools that Reddit built and I expect further pushes towards defederation as the standard for users hasn't been developed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Voyager ist amazing

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Boost is great for Android.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Boost on Android works well. It does for me at least.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago

I think we're too weird and niche.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Clean cut kids do not find Lemmy very palatable.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I don't find Lemmy very palatable. I'm still here because I like to hear different perspectives. Lemmy as a whole seems to hate different perspectives, it's like many go out of their way to keep it closer to a hive mind. 80% of the world's people would not fit in here. I don't either, but I don't give a shit.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Let's hear your different perspectives

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

"People who disagree" saying "things you don't like" energy

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

Agree. I am not an open socialist and my top 5 issues probably don't align with the usual stuff I see at the top of Lemmy communities. Still, it is a worthwhile source for some tech/privacy info and some other niche content.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

Not as many grassroots advocates. Even on the Reddit alternative sub the consensus isn’t lemmy somehow.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Yes, those too

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

This is literally the answer lmao why are you getting downvoted.