It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
—Voltaire
On the web, a handful of corporations (Meta, Google, X/Twitter) control most online social communication, and rarely cooperate–they compete, fiercely. Big tech platforms are like AOL in the 1990s: closed, siloed, and controlled from the top down.
And so, feeds are manipulated to maximize engagement, outrage, and time-on-site. You are tracked, profiled, and manipulated to serve advertising and engagement metrics. This is the basic business model of Facebook and Twitter/X, and what’s sometimes called the ‘closed Web’.
Your data and social relationships are locked into each platform, too. You can’t normally take your identity, followers, or content with you: Instagram can’t follow Twitter. Facebook can’t follow YouTube. Your data is valuable, and those providers want complete control of it (and you). Sharing is bad for business.
But: you have a choice. There’s an alternative to all this, and you can start using it today: the Fediverse.
An open response to closed corporate control: the Fediverse
The Fediverse (‘federated universe’) is an intentional response to the problems created by those centralized, corporate-controlled applications. It’s a group of social media platforms that communicate with each other using a common protocol–-a decentralized, interconnected, user-driven network based on cooperation and open standards.
The Fediverse offers an alternative to each of the problems of closed corporate control:
Centralization of control: Distributes control across thousands of independent servers. No single entity owns the network.
Surveillance capitalism: Most Fediverse platforms reject surveillance and ads entirely. Many are funded by donations or cooperative ownership.
Lack of data ownership: Your identity (`@you@yourdomain`) is portable. You can move servers and keep your social graph.
Content moderation: Each server enforces its own rules. Communities moderate themselves, and it’s highly visible. You can join or leave based on your own values and preferences.
Lock in: Using the ActivityPub protocol, platforms with different purposes can communicate with each other.
Algorithmic manipulation: Most platforms use simple, chronological feeds. No black-box algorithms. You see only what you subscribe to.
And the Fediverse largely consists of open source software. The Fediverse isn’t just another platform—it’s a different philosophy of the web.
What makes something part of the Fediverse?
In short, a service is part of the Fediverse if it:
Uses the ActivityPub protocol to communicate
Can interact with other ActivityPub apps
Is publicly reachable and ‘federates’ with others
What is the ActivityPub protocol?
ActivityPub is the open standard that powers the Fediverse. It’s the language that Fediverse applications use to talk to each other, and defines how users (“actors”) perform “activities” (like, follow, post) on “objects” (posts, media) and how those are sent between servers via inbox/outbox endpoints.
Put simply, ActivityPub is to decentralized social apps what HTTP is to websites: the standard that makes federation and interoperability possible.
Key Components
Actor: A user or entity (e.g., @alice@example.com)
Activity: An action (like Follow, Like, Create)
Object: The thing acted on (e.g., a post)
Inbox/Outbox: Where activities are received/sent between servers
For a more in-depth explanation of what ActivityPub is and how it works, see the Guide.
Popular Fediverse Alternatives to Closed Social Media Platforms
The Fediverse contains great alternatives to almost every popular closed social media platform. Here are some of the most well-known:
Mastodon: Microblogging, like Twitter/X.
Pixelfed: Photo sharing, like Instagram.
PeerTube: Video hosting, like YouTube.
WriteFreely: Blogging, like Substack or Medium.
Funkwhale: Music sharing, like SoundCloud.
Bookwyrm: Book reviews, like Goodreads.
Lemmy: Link aggregation, like Reddit.
How to start reclaiming your independence
Services in the Fediverse work well, and are improving all the time. Mastodon, for example, looks and acts much like X. Though the slick, one-click access you’re used to for apps like X or Instagram might not be everywhere, you’re taking a few extra steps in exchange for reclaiming some of your valuable tech independence, privacy, and control.
If you want to start that reclaiming now, here’s what I recommend: just pick an easy-to-use application like Mastodon or WriteFreely. You can sign up, install, and start using it in a matter of minutes. It may feel unfamiliar, but–give it a few weeks. Invite a few friends to try it, too, so you can practice and explore together. Then, try another application. For a partial list of Fediverse options, start here.
I’m exploring themes around tech freedom, writing, and digital independence. If you’re interested in these ideas, let’s connect.
We shape our tools and afterwards our tools shape us.
—Marshall McLuhan