Instagram is trash.
Instagram bans Palestinian and radical organizers, limits accounts, and automatically suppresses “political content”. We have better tools to connect with each other which resist censorship and surveillance.
In spite of Facebook's well documented censorship of anti-Zionists, people use Instagram and similar sites because the most people are there. This is very reasonable; it's currently still a useful tool. But if we don't see people's posts because they are banned or shadowbanned, we still need to find real alternatives.
Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and others track everything people do. Instagram and Twitter require people to have accounts to see posts. This means that even viewing a post gives information to cops, feds, and advertisers.
We deserve better. It might not be reasonable for us all to delete Instagram right now, but we can move to non-corporate alternatives to reject social media companies' control over our work and our lives.
The fediverse/fedi is pretty good!
Fedi is a network of interconnected open-source social media sites. It's like Twitter, Instagram, or Tumblr, but developed by the community and nonprofits instead of a tech company. It has no ads, tracking, popularity or censorship algorithms, or so-called “AI”. Because the software is all open source, anyone can run a server or make their own version of the software. Because no one owns the fediverse, censorship is more difficult, as people can always transfer their account and followers to a different server.
Mastodon is the most popular fedi website/software, but all fedi sites connect (federate) using the same standard. This might sound complex, but using the fediverse is easy. Mastodon, for instance, is just like Twitter, except that you can easily follow people from any fedi site (and it's not full of fascists).
I recommend joining a radical server like kolektiva.social. Don't join mastodon.social; their admins are Zionist and liberal. For server lists, see the links section. If you're attached to Instagram's interface, Pixelfed is a federated Instagram alternative. Other federated softwares include: Akkoma, Misskey/Firefish/Sharkey, Kbin, Lemmy, Peertube, Friendica, and Diaspora.
Comparison:
| Corporate social media (eg. Instagram) | Fedi/ActivityPub (eg. Mastodon) |
|---|---|
| Owned by billionaires. | Collectively developed. There are nonprofits that run the development of some softwares, but the code is all open source, and anyone can contribute or make their own version. No one can buy it to make it worse. |
| Top-down censorship. | Server and community moderation. Censorship does occur, but it can only happen server by server, and people can change servers (transferring their followers) whenever they want. |
| Fascists, Zionists, transphobes, everywhere. | Every decent server has anti-oppression rules and blocks reactionaries. There is variation in moderation levels among servers, but nearly every server is far more leftist and queer than any corporate site. People can also block and report accounts or servers themselves. |
| Everything you do is tracked and sold. | Tracking is always possible, but it is not part of most fediverse software. Since the software is open source, it would be extremely unpopular if spying were built into them. Like most of the internet, the fediverse can still be surveilled by governments and individual server admins. |
| Each site is closed off, and going elsewhere is discouraged by design. | Links actually work, and do not have added tracking. Servers are interconnected, and there is no one way to do anything. Apps are optional, and there are several choices. |
Why not Telegram?
Telegram is centralized, so it can be shut down. It's owned by a billionaire, and it gives people a false sense of security despite being no more secure than Mastodon. It's also not a practical replacement for other social sites.
Why not Bluesky?
Bluesky is started and backed by the billionaire Jack Dorsey, a weird cryptocurrency guy who endorsed RFK Jr. and sold Twitter to Elon Musk. It's largely centralized, and has poor moderation.
Mastodon/fedi still has problems. There is still racism, sexism, etc. Servers have in some cases censored radicals. Mastodon is also not a substitute for encrypted messaging like Signal and Matrix.
Moving beyond corporate social sites is one small step that should benefit radical movements. It's unimportant compared to taking direct action for Palestinian liberation and the liberation of all people. The revolution will not be posted online, but we can use better tools.
P.S. Stop using Google anything. They provide server infrastructure for the IOF. Every Linktree or Google form, both full of trackers, could easily be a Cryptpad instead.
Links!
Fedi servers:
More info:
General security info:
