Is Meta’s Decentralized Twitter the Real Deal?
In recent months, more and more people have begun to get annoyed with Twitter and Facebook and their centralized approaches to social media. But currently, the alternatives to centralized social media aren’t all that great.
Until recently when Meta announced they were creating a decentralized Twitter. But it is actually true? Will it be decentralized and like Twitter? Let’s take a look at all the information about this new platform and get to the bottom as to if it is truly decentralized or not.
What is Meta’s Decentralized Twitter?
According to current Meta employees, the Meta platform, which owns Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, is currently creating a decentralized social media app similar to Twitter. The app would allow people from all over the world to connect by posting short posts and commenting on the posts of others.
Supposedly, this app is still in development, but the name of it is currently P92 in development. While this name may change before publication, it is the working title we will use to refer to the app in this article.
According to employees, this app will allow users to control their experience, similar to the current alternative Mastodon, and while it is being developed by Meta, it will provide a decentralized experience. As of now, users will be able to sign into this new platform using their Instagram login when it is available.
The app will use Web3 blockchain technology and users will be able to interact with posts and other users. The posts users will be able to post will be character restricted, just like Twitter currently is.
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Will P92 Be Truly Decentralized?
The definition of a decentralized social media app is an application which no one entity controls. Truth to be told, we have serious doubts that P92, in its final form, will be any sort of decentralized app.
We base this conclusion solely on the fact that Meta, to date, has been the exact opposite of decentralized. If you look at Facebook and Instagram, these are some of the most centralized platforms out there. Not only that, but these platforms sell your data to all kids of third parties, therefore offering little to no privacy in the digital world.
The good news is governments all around the world are beginning to question these models. Especially in Europe, where data protection laws prevent many of these sites from selling certain kinds of data. This doesn’t mean Europeans’ data is truly private, however, and law makers are looking and even more laws to protect their citizens, which could put platforms like Instagram and Facebook in jeopardy.
Because of the news of more privacy laws coming, we believe that P92 is being developed by Meta as an alternative, one which will come into play if Facebook and Instagram become illegal in the EU.
Additionally, Meta is a for-profit platform, and we can’t ever actually see them doing something that would benefit their users without making a large profit of their own.
What Does This Mean?
It means we fully expect whatever platform P92 becomes to either not be truly decentralized, or to only be available for a monthly fee.
Society, has, historically, been against paid platforms, instead opting to use free platforms in exchange for the company selling their data to marketers and advertisers. But times are changing.
Paid dating platforms, since the COVID pandemic, have been on the rise. Many Tinder users found they preferred to use the international add-ons which were available to them during COVID for free but were original Tinder Premium features. Additionally, with the rise of AI, more and more bots are infiltrating the free platforms, leading users to opt for the paid subscriptions if only to avoid the bots.
While dating apps are definitely not in the same place as a social media app, it does seem like people worldwide are becoming more and more keen on the idea of paying for a more premium experience when it comes to app usage.
Should You Use the Meta Decentralized Twitter?
As we mentioned above, the P92 app is still in the early stages of development. This means we can’t yet suggest whether or not you should plan to use the app when it is released.
What we can say, however, is that you should be very very careful using any app which is published by Meta. Facebook and Instagram have received numerous warnings worldwide in regard to the spyware they truly are. Forgive us if we are less than confident that Meta is changing its ways with this new decentralized Twitter.
Related: Nostr: Truly Censorship Free Social Media
Why is Meta Making a Decentralized Twitter?
As we come to the end of this article, you may be wondering why Meta would even deign to make a decentralized Twitter. After all, they are making bank off Instagram and Facebook users, why change a good thing?
Remember, Meta has access to information we don’t have. Maybe Instagram is slowing down in growth. Maybe users are leaving Facebook for more decentralized platforms, we aren’t sure.
What we do know is the decentralized platforms like Mastodon and Odysee are on the rise. In fact, as a result of the recent problems with the Twitter platform, many users have flocked to Mastodon in order to escape the unfairness of Elon’s Twitter rule. While news users to the Mastodon platform have slowed down, there are trends toward decentralized social media, and Meta is eager to cash in.
Which is why, even when P92 comes to fruition, we recommend you take ultimate caution when signing up for the new site. Just because it says it’s decentralized, and looks decentralized, doesn’t mean it actually is. We also recommend you read any small print about what Meta plans to do with your data before you start posting information you don’t want to make its way back to you.
In the meantime, we invite you to sit back and watch for more updates about the P92 app from Meta.
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