If big tech will no longer be the town square or let people post their flyers on the billboard, it’s time to build a different town square and abandon the old ones

Where though, like even this one, Lemmy, isn't okay.

I criticized the GOP and they permanently suspended my account, no option to appeal. Fucking shithole. Spez is a sucmbag pedo protector.

What do you mean by that?

I dunno. I don't really want to explain.

A town square requires free speech. A majority of the free speech instances have been mass defederated and silenced. Lemmy is ideologically captured and cannot be a town square until this ends. I'm sure someone will respond with a Karl popper quote saying that lemmies censorship is good actually boar blar

Yeah… we are fucked.

People (in aggregate) have no idea how much algorithms influence them, and they simply cannot help themselves around them. We are going full Cyberpunk.

You're kind of missing the point of the fediverse though. You can always join another instance. You can always create a new account. You really can't be censored. On the other hand corporate controlled social media can silence and ban you to the point where you're just shit out of luck.

The the defederating is a problem though I agree.

For one thing, everything we say and do is snatched up by these tech firms. For another given the feudal nature of moderation lemmy will never compete with big tech and get the critical mass needed as it's currently operated.

I wouldn't call it not great, but without some changes it's just a small alternative that will be put upon by the governments sooner or later.

I get that in theory u can always make a new account or join another instance or even host ur own but if certain speech is disallowed and defederated from all but the fringe then the fediverse still fails as a town square.

What do you mean in theory? It's very easy. I've done it before. It's not Theory. Major accounts have done it before.