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Amidst the chaos of Twitter lawsuits and privacy concerns, is Threads actually decentralized?
Threads launched on July 6th amidst the general decline of Twitter. Whether or not it really is the ‘Twitter Killer’ everyone says it is remains to be seen, however, there has been a record number of new users joining the platform.
If Threads is going to be a decentralized platform, it would need to have support for ActivityPub, which is currently not the case, though apparently “it’s coming”, according to a post from Adam Mosseri. To be clear, ActivityPub is a protocol used to post on decentralized networks like Mastodon. Platforms with AcitivtyPub support allow interactions with other users on Fediverse servers, meaning you can take your audience and data elsewhere should you decide to leave the Threads app.
Can Threads be truly decentralized?
Given Meta’s vague promises about decentralization, it remains to be seen whether Threads will be truly decentralized. Meta chose to launch Threads without ActivityPub built-in, which certainly raises concerns about why it’s interested in joining the fediverse.
Decentralized platforms that have joined the Fediverse present an exciting new direction for how we use social media. For a company like Meta to plan to decentralize its platforms is huge, regardless of the direction it goes in. Mastodon CEO, Eugen Rochko wrote in a blog post that “The fact that large platforms are adopting ActivityPub is not only validation of the movement towards decentralized social media, but a path forward for people locked into these platforms to switch to better providers. Which in turn, puts pressure on such platforms to provide better, less exploitative services”. Some critics might certainly call Threads an exploitative service given you can’t delete your Threads account and data without deleting your linked Instagram account. Then of course, there are the fourteen categories of data that “may be collected and linked to your identity”, though this isn’t anything new if you’re already using Meta’s other services including Facebook, Messenger and Whatsapp.
If Threads really is going to be decentralized, and you have concerns about how your data is going to be processed, then don’t join Threads yet. If you have, there are ways to deactivate and delete your profile. You’re better off waiting for Threads to join the fediverse which will give you greater control over your data.
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