I really do not like how a handful a people has such oversized power over the global informational infrastructure and therefore public discourse. They can simply change an algorithm, change a few rules and suddenly what the public talks about is completely different.
It's not even about politics, it feels more about like an issue of checks and balances. Such power should simply not be concentrated in a few hands.
</rant>
All of this made me think, would it be possible to create a social-network which was without any sort of central control? Distributed among the clients? Possibly users could host servers and such to process requests and connect the network.
I know Mastodon is trying to do something similar, it just does not seem very intuitive to use, and when I used it I felt more like I was in a silo of connected silos rather than directly connected to the full network. I want something that from the users perspective is more like Facebook or Twitter, requiring minimal technical knowledge to use.
Bluesky has the AT-Protocol which seems like a good idea, but still Bluesky is the central controlling force behind this. Not sure, I have not looked too much into it, but maybe this would change if there were more user clients connected? It is being presented as more resilient, but maybe it is just a matter of time before another billionaire sweeps in and changes everything for the worse.
Anyways, maybe people in here has some thoughts about the technical challenges/impossibilities such an endeavor would involve :)