Of course it would be less of a problem if explainability was better with such models. It's not the case though, so it means they can spew very subtle propaganda. This is bound to become even more of a political power tool.

Looks like the monopolists are vexed and are looking for arguments to discredit the competition... of all the arguments, this one is likely the most ridiculous seeing their own behavior.

I guess this was just a matter of time, the obsession of "just make it bigger" was making most player myopic. Now this obviously collides with geopolitics since this time it's about a Chinese company being ahead.

This is indeed clear, the centralized web platforms are fragile by default. They are very prone to capture, this is what just happened.

Very nice editorial. It's clear that the level of trust in the technologies we depend on is low... but that's not due to the technologies themselves it's more about the business practices around them. In the end the solution will have to be political, in the meantime we ought to support the good players.

I think this is a very welcome protest at FOSDEM. This keynote would be a shame on the conference. Unfortunately I already planned to not attend FOSDEM this year, but if you are: please participate to this sit-in.

Definitely a good move, especially when we see the behavior of the tech moguls...

The wonderful world of personalised pricing in the age of widespread surveillance... Also becoming personalised wage fixing in the case of gig workers. Shameful.

I think the trend is clear: don't criticise the powerful or else...

Good reaction and opinion piece about the latest policy changes at Meta. This is really going to be toxic, but they just don't care at the top.

Interesting little study of engagement on various platforms. Clearly the Fediverse could do better in terms of avoiding "friendly fire", I suspect it's the top reason limiting its growth.

A good petition to push forward. Political leaders shouldn't keep interacting in this cesspool.

I wish other platforms would go through so much scrutiny. Still it gives a good idea about the mental health issue they collectively represent.

Very good background information on the latest attempt at discrediting Wikipedia.

This is not all bad news, there are a few things to rejoice about.

Bluesky is already hitting growth pains regarding moderation and its guidelines. By being centralized it is also more at risk within the current US political climate.

Very good piece explaining why the Ferdiverse is currently our only option for a decentralized social media platform. Maybe Bluesky will become another option... maybe... but so far it's only empty promises with a real risk of capture.

Technology isn't neutral. It's impossible to ignore the ideologies of the moguls funding or leading big tech companies. We can't afford to trust their promises.

Definitely this. Sure we should seek for decentralization, but this is not going to happen or be effective without regulation. Ensuring privacy is a legislative and political problem as much as a technical one.

Excellent post showing reasons to be skeptical about Bluesky's future. Despite all their likely sincere claims I don't see how they'll escape enclosure and enshittification when their sketchy VCs will want to see money back.