This is most likely a content moderation feature to promote safety, but it can also be used to hide things you disagree with or don’t want to see. However, these servers can also block each other. New users pick one server to join when signing up, based on common interests or professional affiliation. This is evident in Mastodon’s “federated network” of servers, which users connect across, much like how you can write to a Hotmail email from a Gmail account. But when they decamp to a new platform-even one that is decentralized and purportedly more trustworthy-because they’re wary of the old one, they often bring this distrust-qua-conspiracy with them.ĭecentralized social media are also built to be suspect of the outside world. Pushing for decentralization doesn’t make users inherently conspiratorial. Distrust, like that described by Golumbia, and the feelings prompting many to flee Twitter for Mastodon, often manifest into conspiracy, augmented when institutions are inconsistent or have acted badly. It is predicated on seeking out a place to protect one’s self and one's specific group. While many individuals who invest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies may not espouse these extremist, far-right views, the systems they are entering into often do.ĭecentralization emerges as the solution to seemingly questionable established institutions-be they banks or platforms-because it promotes individual ownership. More often than not, those elites are coded as “Jewish control,” playing into long-standing anti-Semitic tropes. As a result, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin may be attractive to individuals who think the US Federal Reserve is stealing value from ordinary people, or that “elites” have too much power and may be pulling the strings behind the government. Decentralized banking relies on distrust in existing financial institutions, promising crypto-enthusiasts more control over their money. Using cryptocurrency as an example, Golumbia charts how many of the beliefs held by die-hard proponents of bitcoin depend on far-right thinking. As Virginia Commonwealth University professor David Golumbia argues in his book The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism, conspiracy theories that are deeply rooted in American life are governed by much of the same logic that underpins decentralized tech. Jessica Maddox is an assistant professor of digital media technology at the University of Alabama.Ĭhief among the issues fomented by a decentralized web is a rise in conspiratorial thinking. But decentralization also comes with downsides, many of which reflect larger cultural ills. In response, proponents of decentralized social networks claim that these alternatives increase transparency and give users more control over their online experiences. Indeed, distrust of established social media in general is high, thanks to data breaches, inconsistent leadership, and dubious geopolitical ties. The exodus from Twitter to Mastodon was spurred by wariness of Musk and concern that the platform would disintegrate in his hands. Other decentralized social media platforms, like Steemit, use blockchain technology to ensure that data can be stored on servers anywhere in the world. Instead, it operates on independently run servers. Mastodon, like other decentralized social media, isn’t owned by one of the major players in tech and doesn’t rely on one company’s centralized system. When Elon Musk took over Twitter last year, many users migrated to the free and open-source platform Mastodon.
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