BigTech Addiction

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 05:37:08 -0400 from ArrCay

For years now everyone has heard of bigtech platform censorship, shadowbanning, manipulation of content/account exposure, privacy violations, cancelling of accounts for social/political reasons, etc., etc. Even some news reports of bigtechs admitting to these practices, including that some such actions were done in cooperation with government entities (referring to other than for the typical law enforcement/court order reasons of course).

Yet everyone continues to use their platforms.

Why? There really is no good reason to continue using these platforms and hasn't been one for years.

For at least a decade now it's been possible for everyone to have their own platform with the ability to all connect with each other.
Only one account on one platform is necessary.
This whole having a separate account for every exclusive platform business is nonsense.

Although not everyone has the ability to run their own platform server, any community (organization, business, church...) or popular/public individual - basically everyone that creates original content - can and should be running their own platform where they can retain all ownership/copyright/control of their intellectual property (aka content) and any profits from such. When posting on bigtechs, you hand over certain rights/control of your data/property [read their TOS agreement] and are essentially handing them money. Practically everything posted/uploaded to their platforms, YOUR content, has actual real value!

The cost for AI training data is in the multimillion$ range. And most bigtechs are getting that training data for free (literally free) from the users of their "free" (not really free at all) service.

So the question remains; Why are so many people still feeding the bigtechs that are pushing for these huge AI's? - How you can fix AI problems

The "connect/follow us on [insert growing list of exclusive bigtech platforms here]" is rather stupid and bordering on insane at this point. It could be as simple as connect with me at tomj3@arrcay.com from any 'fediverse' platform. I could add "or by email" if I created that email address, which I have not so it doesn't currently exist BTW. For people running their own platform and email/web domain, their social media (fediverse) ID/address could even be the same as their email address. There are certain pros/cons to this. One pro is that it's much easier to verify the social media id/account of someone as opposed to the various checkmark things, that not everyone pays attention to, combined with all the fake accounts on bigtechs. This is not necessarily just from using a matching address but having one's own platform matching their personal or related group/organization/etc. branding/domain.

If one has a website they can just as easily have their own social media platform. Whether they allow the public to register or restrict accounts to a select few on their platforms ]doesn't matter when users can connect across platforms.

I've been telling people for years that better platforms like this exist.

There's well over a dozen different platform softwares that can 'talk' with each other and currently thousands of servers (like this one here) are running one of those platforms. This decentralized system is known as the Fediverse.
Any channel/account here can connect with the millions of users on those platforms.

Unfortunately, the most popular and well known fediverse platform is Mastodon. It's basically a Twitter clone. IMHO, not a great model for 'social media' to begin with. I won't go into the technicalities but Mastodon is a rather bloated, crappy software. It's also the platform that most of the hypocritical 'free-speech' loonies went to when Elon Musk bought Twitter. I go into that particular topic in Twitter-Mastodon liberals, political theories, and Cluster B pandemic. Many of those that couldn't deal with being on real free-speech platforms ended up going to Bluesky.

Bluesky is another decentralized platform. Similar to Mastodon, but not directly part of the Fediverse network. It 'talks' a different protocol, so it's even more of a 'safe space' for those censor-happy 'free-speech' Twitter refugees. It's not much of a surprise that it reflects the same culture and has the same issues that Twitter was notorious for. The Bluesky software was started (~2019) by Dorsey when he was still at Twitter, and he left Bluesky in early 2024.

Bluesky was launched to become the open source protocol layer for social media platforms, but the team ended up “literally repeating all the mistakes we made” at Twitter

A technical sidenote: I find it a bit odd that Dorsey decided to create another such protocol when others already had been in use for years. The now defacto fediverse protocol, ActivityPub, goes back to 2016. Nomad/OpenWebAuth (previously known as Zot) goes back to 2012. [Both are used by ArrCay and other platforms.] Proposals exist to incorporate the Nomad/OpenWebAuth features into ActivityPub. AFAIK, this combination would do everything Bluesky's ATproto does, so it would seem to make more sense to have contributed to that effort rather than write a competing protocol.
Anyway....Regarding Twitter, Dorsey has said:

I think the core, critical sin was choosing the advertising model to begin with.
...
And when you're entirely dependent on that, if a brand like P&G or Unilever doesn't like what's happening on the platform, and they threaten to pull the budget, which accounts for like 20% of your revenue? You have no choice, and... you have no choice. - The End of Social Media: An Interview With Jack Dorsey

I pointed out that the bigtech "free"-for-all ad revenue model creates a garbage platform in Why the legacy social media model of bigtech is destined for the dumpster.

Threads is Meta's fediverse platform spun off from Instawhore...gram as I understand. It is connected to the fediverse ('speaks' the defacto standard fediverse protocol - ActivityPub), but since it's a Meta product it's blocked here and at many other fediverse instances (servers).

Truth Social may be a good example of the best of both worlds, or worst rather. The core software is a customized version of Mastodon. And... they went all-in on the bigtech ad-revenue model, closing off the Fediverse connection so no other fediverse platform/server can connect to them. Technically they could have chosen to only connect with Gab, for instance, which is also based on Mastodon. That is assuming a mutual agreement with Gab could be made. But they didn't even do that. AFAIK, Gab is also closed-off and uses the bigtech model. This (or any) channel on ArrCay here would be able to connect with users, make comments, etc. on either of those platforms if they didn't disable the federation feature.

The microblog (eg. Twitter, et.al.) format is not particularly "social".
For that matter, almost all bigtech social media formats aren't really social at all.
They more appropriately should be called social conditioning platforms.
While Fecesbook may have a few more features that might be more suitable for normal social interaction, most of those were afterthought/add-in features that don't really make up for the inherent design (or operating model) flaws. The platform is otherwise garbage and is a poster child for the issues I detailed in the aforementioned post/article. Not the least of which include the bad behaviors/practices of Meta in general.

This platform (ArrCay and at least a handful of closely related platforms) was designed with real life social interactions (and the related privacies, freedoms, etc.) in mind. As such it includes features that more closely reflect the real world, rather than the vapid social media constructs that bigtechs want everyone to use for the benefit of their bottom line(s). One of those afterthought features of Fecesbook, permissions, is a core function that applies to practically everything. There are permissions controls for media/cloud storage, posts, comments on posts, even connections.

One example of a freedom related feature has to do with the Nomad protocol mentioned earlier. On platforms that use Nomad, a channel (profile) is a unique identity that is yours forever, it can be cloned and/or moved to any other platform server that uses the Nomad protocol. You're 'profile' and data/content are not held hostage and stuck on an exclusive account owned by some bigtechmegacorp which they can censor/ban/cancel at will.

For instance I have this channel here at ArrCay.com and let's say I decide that I want to run my own server (or vice versa, that I'm done running my own and would rather let someone else do that - some family member, a local church or other organization that has a compatible platform server...) call it: anothernomadplatform.org.

So I register a new account on anothernomadplatform.org and rather than create a whole new channel (profile) from scratch like I would when going from one bigtech platform to another, I 'clone an existing channel', this one.

Once data (content/posts, media files, connections, etc.) is synced I can remove the ArrCay.com account (or arrcay.com could just go away) and anothernomadplatfom.org can be the 'home' server for this channel. The unique 'nomadic identity' (technically a cryptographic key) remains the same, only the display name/address changes. In fact, this channel was actually created on another server before arrcay.com existed.

On ArrCay (and some other platforms) the follower/following, or more appropriately stalker/stalking, model is not the default connection method (though it's still an option). On the typical bigtech platforms one might notice that a high percentage of the accounts 'following' you are scam/spam/fake/bot accounts. You can't stop them. The only option is to block them after the fact. But that's not really an option, it's just a waste of time (more time spent on the platform = more 'engagement', more ad exposure...). Block one botfarm account and another one or three will follow you. Is a circle, it neva end. As I've said in other posts/articles, the fake/bot account problem is easy enough to fix but it's highly unlikely to change on any of those platforms because it's part of the business model.

The same stalker/stalking connection method is used on certain fediverse platforms (eg. Mastodon.) There may be more instigator/harrassment type accounts on certain fediverse platforms/servers than the spam/scam/fake bots that plague bigtechs, depending on comparisons. Being an open network, anyone can spin up a server/instance and connect to any other open instance/server - good, bad or indifferent. Of course, most servers run by bad actors (and/or those which host mostly bad acting accounts) will end up getting blocked. In any case, on platforms like ArrCay where connections can be restricted to 'approval only', 'moderated', etc. the anti-social and fake types are nowhere near as prevalent, if not practically non-existent.

By now, everyone should realize that these bigtech problems are not really going to be fixed by bigtechs. The users aren't paying the bills. User content/data and 'engagement' (being good ad viewers, AI training, etc.) is the product. No matter what they say to appease/retain users, their actions are ruled by revenue - advertisers and corporate shareholders/overlords.

The solution really is to stop using the bigtech modeled platforms.
Stop using all bigtech products/services actually.
It is entirely possible.
I'm a Systems Engineer with over 30 years in IT - hardware design, firmware programming, networking, cybersecurity, you name it.
One of my specialties is spec'ing alternative open source solutions for more secure/efficient/cost-effective in-house systems; eliminating, or at least minimizing, reliance on 'cloud' (other peoples computers) and other 3rd party services/products.
Believe me, I've heard all the lame excuses.
The first step is admitting you have a problem...

I say that only half jokingly...

They need to keep you on their platform as long as they can. How do they do this? They extensively, very extensively, collect data on your life, feed that data into advanced computer algorithms, and provide you with content that’s predicted to interest you most.5 This is common knowledge. If you’ve taken a course in deep learning or big data manipulation, you’re probably familiar with the sheer sophistication of the computer science behind these algorithms. These complex supercomputers crunch away at the data Facebook collects from you to keep you on the platform as long as possible.5 The effects of this, I’m sure, most of us have experienced before. The next time you find yourself scrolling endless on TikTok, think about the supercomputers crunching away on your data, lassoing you into addiction. - Epidemic Depression and the Disregarded Danger of Big Tech

Generally speaking, such algorithms are not used on fediverse platforms. Certain instances/servers may utilize some custom algorithms (unlikely to be anything as intrusive or manipulative as bigtechs), but there's no widespread usage. The ordering of streams/feeds are typically simple and straightforward - chronological, most popular/active, most recently commented-on, etc. As such, they can seem comparatively boring since they lack the addiction triggers that bigtech platforms use to keep people scrolling through their mostly mindless drivel.

Here on ArrCay (and some others), you have the choice of how you want to order, or even filter, your stream (aka feed/timeline). The focus is on enabling meaningful conversations, social interactions and sharing of data on your terms - real life stuff, not on selling ads, profiting from your data/attention, or controlling content exposure/visibility.

Somewhat related to the algorithm/addiction manipulation tactics is the social conditioning that their platform is "where it's at" - your friends, your customers, the popular 'creators' or public figures, that viral post, etc. Their continued existence pretty much relies on the public's belief in this exclusivity concept which is actually obsolete. I'd be willing to bet at least some of the more publicized writings about the Fediverse which are critical or point out negatives are sponsored and/or promoted by bigtechs. Since Mastodon is the most popular software it's the most used example in such writings so there tend to be generalizations based on what I consider a mediocre, at best, fediverse software, and a rather poor representation of the decentralized network known as the fediverse. I won't deny that the fediverse has issues, but I think any legitimate ones (those that are universal, not specific to a particular software like Mastodon) pale in comparison to the bigtech platform problems. The positives of decentralized platforms far outweigh the negatives.

The opposite of addiction is connection.

The bigtech model of social media promises connection but is designed for addiction.

Bigtech, and similarly modeled 'alternative', social media platforms are certainly not the place for real connections.

If you want to make real connections, build a community, etc. then you should be using a decentralized platform with methods of communication and sharing which reflect real life.

If you'd like to use the ArrCay software for your own platform, get in touch.
Don't have your own server or IT support resources? Managed hosting, remote SysAdmin, custom programming, etc. is also available.

You should be able to contact this channel from any fediverse account/platform other than Threads.
If you got here from a post/link at one of the very few bigtech platforms I still have an account on, you can contact me there.

arrcay.com
https://arrcay.7t4.us/.well-known/apgateway/did:key:z6MkvFaQGVpMgvFftLcnymFtRHneLHLgoQcoBE38bWWYqCM5/actor
arrcay.7t4.us
https://arrcay.7t4.us/.well-known/apgateway/did:key:z6MkvFaQGVpMgvFftLcnymFtRHneLHLgoQcoBE38bWWYqCM5/actor
arrcay.7t4.us
https://arrcay.7t4.us/channel/thomas_johnson_iii
7t4
https://www.7t4.us/cover.php
Codeberg
https://codeberg.org/7t4
Github
https://github.com/7t4