Un-censoring Your Social Media
Decentralized social media allows you take control of your online social network.
Anyone old enough can remember what a grand time it was when social media first erupted into the scene with the likes of Friendster, MySpace, followed soon by the first iterations of Facebook and YouTube.
All of a sudden, logging onto the Internet was no longer a passive activity–which back then consisted mostly of just checking emails, doing research for homework, or browsing business pages. The Internet transformed into something else entirely, as people started taking all of their experiences in the real world (no matter how personal or trivial) and sharing them online to a worldwide audience.
It seemed that the original promise of the ‘world wide web’ was finally coming into fruition. Web 2.0 as it was called, was a paradigm shift from a mostly “read only” experience to an unprecedented era of interconnectedness, democratic expression, content creation and global conversations.
However, the decades since then have made it clear that the lofty aspirations of social media often clashed with the centralized nature of their corporate management, resulting in data privacy issues, content manipulation, and power concentration. This case was made no more apparent than in 2021 when Facebook was the focus of a US Senate inquiry, following revelations published by the Wall Street Journal of how Facebook had systems in place that prioritize divisive content and gives special privileges to high-profile accounts for the sake of profit.
These limitations of Web 2.0 have fueled the rise of a new decentralized approach to social media, leveraging the use of blockchain technology to rectify past shortcomings and usher in Web 3.0 as an era of user empowerment, data ownership, and network resilience.
What is decentralized social media?
Decentralized social networks differ from their Web 2.0 counterparts by housing user data and content on a blockchain network rather than on centralized servers which are wholly controlled by corporate entities.
Blockchains are governed by their respective user communities themselves, through algorithmic consensus mechanisms such as Proof-of-Work (PoW) or Proof-of-Stake (PoS). These same mechanisms, which are responsible for securing and handling the financial data of massive cryptocurrency economies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, are also the perfect network infrastructure to handle the billions of user data for the next wave of social media platforms.
But unlike centralized systems wherein control is in corporate hands, a decentralized approach champions heightened privacy and security, granting its users unprecedented ownership and authority over their personal data, digital identities and content creations.
Decentralized social media is key to free speech online
Recently, mainstream social media such as Facebook and X (Twitter) have been going through increased criticism over issues of censorship, with more and more users opting to close their accounts or explore other available platforms. Specifically, these concerns include:
Inconsistent moderation – Social media policies and algorithms have been found to either favor or suppress certain users or viewpoints in order to influence political outcomes or protect commercial interests.
Lack of transparency - Many social media users who have had their content removed or accounts taken down often report a lack of clarity with their supposed violations of content guidelines.
Biases and discrimination - Automated moderation tools are not effective in handling content that contain nuances. Content which are of educational, artistic or cultural value are often removed or flagged as inappropriate simply by containing certain keywords or images which may not be outright offensive.
Inability to appeal - When content is removed unfairly, users often find it difficult if not impossible to contact the platform’s support and appeal for a reversal.
Inability to participate in decision-making - For platforms that are meant to be user-centric, it is quite ironic that decisions are left at the mercy of a small, powerful minority without users having a say in how they want their experience to be.
Susceptibility - Even with content moderation, mainstream social media platforms struggle to control external forces that aim to exert influence over online communities through the use of fake accounts and bots.
On a decentralized platform however, users can create and share anything without having to be concerned about content moderation. Overall, decentralized social media offers the following advantages when it comes to free speech:
Censorship-resistance - Without a central point of control, decentralized social media is free from the influence of governments, corporations, or any other third party, allowing for more diverse perspectives and ideas to proliferate and be shared among communities.
Transparency - In a blockchain, all transactions are recorded on an immutable ledger, allowing for the authenticity of content to be validated by any user, increasing trust in the network.
User authentication - User accounts are also verified and authenticated through a public key infrastructure, ensuring that content and interactions are legitimate and organic, while prohibiting the proliferation of fake accounts and automated bots.
Community governance - Users themselves can participate in the direction and development of the platform, or even with the formation and implementation of content guidelines through voting mechanisms with the use of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
Another advantage of building social media platforms on blockchains is that it opens them up to ready integration with cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as better alternatives for content monetization. This effectively removes the corporate middleman between creators and their audiences, and creates free market conditions where creators are incentivized to come up with quality and reliable content.
Though not yet household brand names, platforms like these have already been around for quite a while since the mid 2010s, with the likes of Mastodon, Steemit, Minds and DTube. Newer players are also constantly entering the scene such as Lens, DiamondApp, and friend.tech providing more alternative means to generate revenue directly for users. Extending on this concept, platforms such as OpenCampus allow members to create a custom educational experience paired with a supportive network.
Mastodon is a popular microblogging site with a familiar feel to Twitter/ X.
The current downside however is that decentralized platforms still struggle with attracting a large user base, which greatly limits the earning potential and quality of content given the limited competition. A small user base for a self-governing platform also makes it more likely for bad actors to manipulate the majority, as with the case with Steemit in 2020, when a corporate takeover was perceived by users as a threat to the integrity of the system, causing a massive user dropoff and a significant decline of the platform.
Some analysts however, look back at the incident with Steemit as proof of concept of democracy being hardwired in a decentralized platform. Because of blockchain transparency which allowed Steemit users to account for the tokens that could be used to manipulate the governance vote, the threat was detected from a mile away and the community jumped in to intervene on its own accord–something which would definitely not be possible on the likes of Facebook or X.
Conclusion
Though still a fledgling movement, decentralized social media is already starting to make its points heard. In fact, mainstream platforms are already trying to get onto the blockchain, which should be an indicator that they too are in anticipation of the imminent shift to Web 3.0. Reddit, for example, already has its own user reward cryptocurrency, Moons (MOON) while X and Instagram are also already tinkering with NFT integration. It is unlikely however, that these platforms would adopt a fully decentralized structure anytime soon.
But whether decentralized social media will eventually take off is more likely just a matter of ‘when’. After all, in a world that is getting more and more digital everyday, it definitely won't be enough that we just migrate our real world experiences and memories online, but more imperatively–our rights to privacy and free speech.