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I think that we have a pretty bad PR problem when it comes to free and privacy-focused software and services. So often when this category of things gets attention, it’s because it’s being used to harbor fascists and other pieces of shit. I believe Minds also heavily favors the far right. There’s no real reason to promote these platforms over others. Friendica and PeerTube are infinitely more capable and also better both in terms of freedom and the ability to be used responsibly.

If you look over at the Mastodon side of things, you’ll see where things can go when the social gains of these alternatives are the biggest part of the message. Tons of people use that not because they know it’s free software, not because they know it’s federated, but because “it’s Twitter but queerer and without the fascists!” There’s real tangible power in that appeal that needs to be at the front of the conversation.

I’m not being black-and-white with it, and I don’t think you’re bad if you choose to use it (at least with what I know about it right now). Instead, even despite its appealing features and presentation, I would urge others to choose other options because especially now while every decent-to-good option is relatively obscure, it is best for privacy and freedom in the long term to make sure that the software and services that we promote are liberatory not only in technical terms, but in practical social ones. These tools need to support oppressed people and are uniquely suited to do so…we have a responsibility to play a social and PR game as much as we do a technical one.