EDPS decentralised social media pilot: the end of a successful story
EDPS decentralised social media pilot: the end of a successful story
Two years ago, the EDPS embarked on a pioneering journey to launch two social media platforms, EU Voice and EU Video. The pilot project has proved successful in delivering alternative, privacy-friendly and user-focused social media platforms. It is time to review the results.On 28 April 2022, ...
Unfortunately, despite our efforts to find a new home for EU Voice and EU Video in other EUIs, we have been unable to secure new ownership to maintain the servers and sustain operations at the high standards that EUIs and our users deserve”.
I would expect the pirate faction to intervene in EU parliement? Fediverse servers should be such a tiny fraction of overall EU server costs that this should not be a problem at all...
Yes. I think (seen in other news) it is a shame to repeatedly see governments, companies and others say things like "We have no choice than to move to the cloud, because their offer and services are irreplaceable" where the cloud is GAFAM. Meanwhile new data centers for Microsoft and Google are build in Europe, which maybe offers new jobs to some, but increases dependency on GAFAM. I found this article a sad story. A voice "successful" pilot but probably "never again" cause "money". But I guess the lobbying is strong in that area too, besides the easy of use of "just using YouTube". Last week I read an interview with a farmer mentioning that he and other farmers talked to high ranked EU politicians which encouraged them to keep protesting for a more sustainable agriculture but "they could not do anything for them". The farmer concluded that the lobbying by companies is very strong :(
I briefly talked with the responsible person at the EDPS during last year's CCC congress, and "money" isn't the real issue.
The EDPS overstepped their mandate when setting up this pilot and due to the typical bureocratic clusterfuck no other organisation wants to take responsibility for the necessary infrastructure.
I'm shivering imagining how cursed the content on the EU branded social media apps was. I'm having nightmarish visions of Eldritch horror levels of neoliberal cringe.
The EU is still on Mastodon. https://social.network.europa.eu/@EU_Commission/112280054595900671 with 18 active users currently. I am not too keen on their content but I do see it as progress. When big names move from Tw(X)tter and other corporate silos, or at least use the alternatives like Mastodon alongside FB and so on, it can be an example for other organisations, companies and citizens to follow and use the Fediverse as well and I consider that a win. The article was about EU Voice and EU video, the latter was with PeerTube. On the one hand I think it is a pity that they gave up, on the other hand the popularity and use of Google YouTube is enormous. It is not a monopoly but for countless people it is an addiction difficult to stay away from.