First of all, hello, Fediverse. If all worked out, this is my first federated blog post. I’m excited to join the decentralized social media movement. Now, what is the Fediverse (specifically the AT Protocol), and how is it relevant to the TikTok Ban?
Jan 18th, 2025 was when TikTok went dark for about 12 hours. As communities, small businesses, and individual creators faced the reality that the platform could be shut down with the flick of a switch, it opened a conversation around censorship, proprietary algorithms, and where the users should go next.
RedNote and the Complete Disillusionment with Privacy
A fun stat being thrown around is that US users learning Mandarin on DuoLingo went up 216% after the TikTok outage. This is correlated with the huge shift in US TikTok users moving to RedNote (Xiaohongshu or Red Book) after the ban.
Not only are users learning Mandarin, but they also breezed through the invasive terms and services to sign up for the app. The laissez-faire attitude of new RedNote users is like a metaphorical middle finger to US lawmakers. I say that because the TikTok ban rationale is motivated by a concern for US user data held by Chinese businesses.
RedNote is not a 1:1 replacement for TikTok and the community standards are much more restrictive as users can be banned simply for talking politics. Even if RedNote was a perfect copycat of TikTok, it still does not solve the problem of app hopping. Users have to start over each time a company goes under or in this case is banned. This is where BlueSky comes in.
What is Bluesky
You may have heard buzz about a new app: Bluesky (follow me here). But I want to remind people that Bluesky is not just another app. It is an open-source application built on the AT Protocol so it is decentralized and federated. Its mission is as follows:
To develop and drive large-scale adoption of technologies for open and decentralized public conversation.
Bluesky Business Proposal
It aims to protect users from censorship, proprietary algorithms, and closed communities. What is so devastating about the loss/potential loss of TikTok is that the content and communities made there must stay there. To be a bit morbid, TikTok is the Titanic, and all those accounts and communities made there will sink with the ship. Bluesky/AT Protocol offers individual ships with many captains for each user to choose how and where to set sail. I’ll build out the analogy in just a sec.
The AT Protocol
The AT Protocol is an open, decentralized network for building social applications. There is another similar protocol called ActivityPub, which is what Mastason and Threads use. Some say the AT Protocol is a further evolution of ActivityPub; some say it is over-engineered. I’m just looking to break down what it is.
Some unique features of the AT Protocol:
- Usernames are domains. This builds off the well-known DNS structure to sign and authenticate online presence. This means any user with a .gov is affiliated with the government and @NYT.com is NYT.
- Algorithms are user-generated. These feeds can be public and shared for anyone to use. No more guessing why your content isn’t showing up and shadow bans.
- Interchangeability and independence. Any part of the AT Protocol can be swapped. You can self-host your data, choose a different server, or change out your domain pointer. User identity is separated from their server.
This is a great video from a former developer at Bluesky that breaks down the AT Protocol with the analogy of HTML.
The Cruise Ship/Sail Boat Analogy
After struggling through UML diagrams and layers of abstraction, I wanted to make this easier to understand for everyone. The Cruise Ship/Sail Boat analogy explains federation without technical jargon. Many videos compared it to other internet protocols like email and HTML but I wanted something less nerdy.
Centralized Social Media
TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X
- There are a million+ people on the cruise ship run by 1 company and 1 captain (Think Mark Zuck & Elon Musk)
- It’s easy to stay entertained because you have a captive audience but the entertainment agenda is dictated by the company (proprietary algorithms & closed community)
- You are mostly isolated from the outside world with only limited connection to things happening outside of the cruise (external links but closed system)
- Maybe you’ll hop on different cruise ships and see what’s going on over there but you leave behind all your traditions and memories at the other cruise ship (no data or identity portability)
- If the Titanic sinks, you are going down with it (TikTok and Vine)
Decentralized/Federated Social Media
Threads & Mastodon (ActivityPub) or Bluesky (AT Proto)
- There is a fleet of sailboats run by many captains. You might even be a captain yourself. (Many options that work with the same fundamentals or self-hosted servers)
- Raise your custom flag on each sailboat (own your identity)
- If you don’t like your captain or the rules on that sailboat you can leave. Go to a different sailboat or start your own and keep your flag (your data and identity go with you)
- Blast out your announcements (posts) on a radio that other sailboats chime in on and reply to even though they have different captains (same protocol, different servers)
- If one sailboat goes down, the fleet keeps going. You can easily bring your flag with you to another sailboat (domains point to identity and server portability)
The Future of Social Media
Remember surfing the internet? That’s what social media federation is supposed to bring back. Once again, interesting and unique information will be easily searchable, shared, and promoted. Federation completely changes the incentives of social media platforms. Federated platforms compete for the best user experience, not content. Creators won’t be tied down to individual companies. We may see a return to blogging! A higher value to domains! If the AT protocol takes off, to verify yourself you will have to buy domains.
Also, it’s about damn time. I see so many small businesses and restaurants with only a business Instagram. Can you understand why that is so dangerous to have your online presence completely in the hands of a giant corporation? I have another rant about fragmented identity and the importance of websites here.
Ready to join in? Get a domain name! Get a website! Stake your place on the internet and federate!
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