If for whatever reason you never wish to interact with #Threads, you can personally block it for your account. This hides all posts and profiles from Threads, prevents anyone from Threads from following you, and stops your posts from being delivered to or fetched by Threads. Simply click the "Block domain threads.net" option on any Threads profile or post you see in Mastodon.
@stux Yeah, now I found on their profile :blobCat_giggle: Didn't even know we are part of FediPact. My feed here is more chaotic last weeks and I miss many things.
So I don't have to do it myself :blobcat_amused:
@happyborg@Gargron I mean there is a way: set you account to private and it’s opt in. Then you can decide who can follow you and who your posts go to.
Maybe there should be a setting: private for external instances so people from your instance can follow you automatically.
@mrtoto
Thanks, I didn't know that. But as you point it it isn't ideal.
More importantly it doesn't meet the bar for consent.
I see admins justifying federation as giving users choice, but it's the same kind of faux choice which we call a dark pattern when Facebook does it, and which has been prohibited under GDPR when used by businesses to harvest personal data.
Consent requires choice to default in favour of the user and equally easy to make either way. #Threads @Gargron
@happyborg@Gargron Threads is just an instance like any other. If you had opt in for that, you’d need opt in for all instances, which would be a right mess.
@Setok
No, contentious federation could be made opt-in and admins could decide what was contentious in their case in consultation with their users. That doesn't sound too hard technically. @Gargron
@happyborg@Gargron the silencing option (already there) is quite close to that. Admins can attach a warning to that which is shown if you follow someone from a contentious server.
@Setok
It isn't only about following. So many of the responses I get aren't thought through and it is tiresome pointing these things out repeatedly. @Gargron
But how would you prevent Meta from using your data any way they see fit (cf. https://mastodon.online/@mastodonmigration/111585528118111249 ) if you’re on a server that does still federate with threads? How would you exercise that simple right under EU laws?
I’m really curious because I think every server deliberately choosing to federate with Threads has some kind of legal responsibility in this mess.
Grab the file from GitLab and remove the line “Known Meta Sites:” Then, use spits on ground Excel or LibreOffice or e.g. https://convertio.co/txt-csv/. Or (on macOS at least), just change the suffix.
When done, download the .csv and go to your profile settings. Now go to:
Import and export > Import > Import type [important!] > Domain blocking list > Merge [important!]. Click UPLOAD and you're done.
Note that it'll take a while until your #blocklist has been processed.
1 download Meta.txt from GitLab (img. 1): https://gitlab.com/J4YC33/metablock/-/blob/main/Meta.txt
2 change the .txt behind the filename to .csv (meta.txt > meta.csv). You can probably do that simply by changing the file name.
3 for those on Mastodon, go to your Profile Settings and import the file (image 2). The order to click things is as follows:
Import and export > Import > Import type [important!] > Domain blocking list > Merge [important!].
@12pt9 Thank you very much for explaining it so clearly! 😊 Just one question: what exactly do I download there (I can't read codes but I suppose it's everthing about Facebook and Meta, nothing else?) Metablock as a word is ambiguous. 🤓
I work with my computer but Auntie Erna would even fear to download any unknown file.😉 So these things in the Fediverse are indeed too complicate for users who want just "social media".
I'll try, if it works.
@NatureMC You're very welcome. It's a list of domains linked to anything Meta (Threads, Facebook, Instagram, etc). When you add that list to your domain blocks, nothing from those domains can reach you. You won't see them, they won't see you. As such, you block Meta.
People are rightfully worried that Meta will collect data from Mastodon users and monetize that information.
@12pt9 Yay, it worked, thank you! I couldn't just rename the file but had to go over LibreOffice Calc: open the txt.file - then save it as .csv
Then I could import the .csv easily with the option "merge" - not "overwrite".
It will take some time, I'll see tomorrow, if it works.
@AmiW@Gargron I have friends that will never use mastodon and still are interested in discussing with me. They are looking at threads as a good replacement to Twitter. So, yeah there are good use cases!
@Luk@Gargron Yes, it was the same with bluesky at the beginning. But the fact is they all never really move away from X or Meta. They say they want to use it, but basically everyone is somewhere else and all just a little bit.
@Gargron I'm less worried about interacting with Threads users than I am about Meta having influence in the fediverse. Need I remind you, they knowingly aided the initiation of a genocide in the interest of profit
@Gargron it's important to note that when a user does this on a server that's still federated, Meta will still be able to see their info unless they move to a different server or make their account completely undiscoverable.
Even then they'll still be able to get the basic info from the profile, just not the toots.
@BeAware@Gargron It's so funny that basically everybody forgets that, if any company wants to read all your posts, they can use your RSS feed already right now.
If Threads federates in both directions, Meta will not be able to get more of your data than it can already get right now, just over the webserver itself... but, in blocking Threads, you will prevent others from joining the Fediverse, because most of their friends are using Threads.
The Fediverse has to be better than Threads.
I mean, that's not entirely true. If you profile is private and you allow someone on threads to follow you, meta will get your posts when they before couldn't. And they will also get data on who on Threads you interact with, which could possibly be cross-referenced with other data about you by data brokers.
So if you interact with threads, meta will get some additional info. And personally, I think it's unlikely they are already scraping, but all but guaranteed they will harvest the data they get from plugging into the fediverse.
So there is a clear additional risk, it's just blown a bit out of proportion by many people.
@Gargron Yeah, I do not plan to block #Threads, as I am extending the same policy toward them that I do other instances (in essence, I am treating them like any other instance).
With Threads & #Flipboard joining the #Fediverse en masse soon, I am excited for what 2024 has in store!
Also, it should make it easier to convince businesses & politicians who use #WordPress to install the #ActivityPub plugin so they can interact with the Fediverse without needing to join another site.
@darnell@Gargron What will you be doing about extreme explicit hate content on the platform, like LibsOfTiktok, Gays Against Groomers, etc.? I'm asking because the normal way to deal with an instance that refuses to ban accounts like that seems to be defederation, no?
@darnell@Gargron On that note, I'm really unhappy that the meeting certain folks had with Facebook over the summer wasn't used to give them an ultimatum: ban these types of hate accounts or all parties present pledge not to federate.
My understanding is that the fediverse works by caching communications between users. It's like a web between instances. If you don't have users actively going to these other instances and allowing that information to be cached, then it's not going to store data on your own instance.
With an army of threads users, they effectively have all of the data in the Fediverse.
Nothing there said anything that relieved my concerns. You know you can be profiled without your IP. In fact, a lot of people here have their own names attached to their account.
Like for example, I know your family structure, where you live, and your age group, just based on your profile description. Facebook will too and it wont be hard to narrow you down from there.
@PopOfAfrica@mbpaz@tasket@Oozenet thankfully you can block the Threads domain on your personal account! We have the tools to make this place what we want it to be.
@tasket If they want to #scrape all your information, they will, it is publicly available on the internet. Wouldn't be surprised if they already did it with their AI. No, it does not matter if you add no index to your robots.txt or profile.
@TheFederatedPipe There's a difference between scraping and Threads AI saying it has a moderation grievance over something you posted on another instance.
And there are concerns to be had for sure. But the benefit and downside of an open standard is that anyone can participate in it. And the benefit and downside of a decentralized system is that there is no central authority to decide things for everyone. So the community and server admins will have to decide how to deal with that and inevitably come to different conclusions and that's what the fediverse is all about really.
I wouldn't necessarily call an opt-out approach naive. It's more of a deliberate dunk-up...
This isn't such a big deal, though, if you can block it before you interact. I'm on a "wait and see" camp, but I don't anticipate any quality subscriptions from Instagram, so color me skeptical.
Some admins certainly don't like a burden of carrying posts from that amalgamation...
@Gargron That's not for "whatever reason" because threads can deliberately steal personal data and spread what they call "their services" even if you don't have any threads account. Threads.net is the worst social network in terms of personal data. Threads is a very dangerous threat. If META sneaks in Fediverse, that's simply because META fears it.
@Gargron I feel like we should be able to go to profile settings and type it in a block configuration rather than going into an account or something, but at least it's easy enough to search up an account. I just typed in threads.net in my instance search box and clicked the first account, lol.
@Gargron the way it should be - users have the choice vs just being censored. There are those who have long-lost friends on Threads that they will still be able to follow if they wish.
@Gargron No, I joined Masto to get away from the Bad Place, and made friends here. I don't want to lose them, but in recent weeks I have deserted them to get my Threads off the ground - I was around for the start of Twitter and see it reappearing in the NewPlace, then the NewNewPlace is going to be where Threads and AP meet and that is very much a Place I want to be (hence I'm @4Places elsewhere) 😊
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