From now on, Threads users worldwide, except in the EU, will see their posts in the so-called ‘Fediverso’. We take a look at this new way of being on social networks, more focused on privacy.
From now on, users of the Threads social network around the world will see their posts in the so-called ‘Fediverso’, as announced by Meta this week. Except those who live in the European Union.
Before this, users had to go to ‘Mastodon’ or ‘Bluesky’ to see replies to their Threads messages which means that They had to go from application to applicationbut now users won’t have to.
The announcement is part of Meta’s broader expansion of create a ‘Fediverso’ that unites more than 100 countries, a significant change from its initial availability, as it was initially considered only for USACanada and Japan.
What is ‘Fediverso’?
Abbreviation of ‘federated universe‘, is a group of “interconnected but independent social media servers,” according to Meta.
Meta wants users to think of ‘Fediverso’ “as an email” that is sent between a Google and another from Yahoo. That is possible because email accounts use a universal set of rules to communicate over the Internet.
That is what the integration of Threads in the ‘Fediverso’– Users will now be able to interact with people using other social media platforms without having to switch between their accounts.
“Unlike email, your conversations and your profile on ‘Fediverso’ They are public and can be shared between servers” explains Meta in a Threads e post. Instagram to explain the new initiative. “Imagine posting on Threads and people seeing your post on Tumblr o Flipboard“.
ActivityPub, and not Meta, is the decentralized social network protocol that makes the ‘Fediverso’ work. The protocol, standardized by the World Wide Web consortium, allows its users send messages, manage control rooms and sync messages.
Mastodon is the largest social media platform of ‘Fediverso’, with 15 million accounts and about 871,000 monthly active users, as of June 27. The social network emerged in response to the acquisition of X, formerly Twitter, by Elon Musk.
Other social networks of ‘Fediverso’ are PeerTube, similar to YouTubeand the popular website builder WordPress. Tumblr, a popular ‘microblogging’ site among millennials, is also working with ActivityPub to enter the ‘Fediverso’.
Why are EU citizens excluded?
The last December, Meta launched Threads in the EUsix months after the platform’s initial launch in more than 100 countries, including the US and the UK.
The platform now has more than 150 million usersafter 100 million new registrations in its first week.
The media then blamed the new EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) of the delay, since Meta would have had to ask the block for permission by the privacy provisions of the application.
Although Meta did not confirm it directly in the media, the newspaper ‘The Guardian’ quoted Adam Mosserihead of Instagram, saying there were some “significant complexities” to the launch of Threads due to the new laws.
Until recently, the EU was present in the ‘Fediverso’
In 2022, the EU, through the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), launched EU Voice and EU Videos, two social media channels on the ‘Fediverso’ that they described as a way to test “alternative social media channels.” They closed the accounts on May 18 to “review the data” of their project.
At the end of the project, EU Voice and EU Video housed a total of 46 accounts dedicated to public service, including EU parliamentarians and commissionerswhich made them “the largest group of public organizations present in ‘Fediverso’ worldwide,” according to a statement from April.
“The pilot project demonstrates that decentralized, community-driven social media platforms can prioritize fundamental rights from users to privacy and personal dataand promote EU digital sovereignty,” the statement continues.
The EDPS said it is committed to “explore innovative solutions” on how to use ‘Fediverso’ “after the success of this pilot project.”
