Remember Ello? The invite only social network that blew up in 2014. I was on it for a week then I had to say Oodbye as well.
https://ello.co/ https://www.cnet.com/news/meet-ello-the-social-network-that-...
https://ello.co/ https://www.cnet.com/news/meet-ello-the-social-network-that-...
The founders' initial plan was to create an artists' and designers' platform, and they've pivoted hard back in that direction over the past couple of years.
That orientation allowed them to make additional pledges, including ad-free and no tracking, and yes, they did pledge that. But the SNpivot came after the initial interest boom in September, 2014.
From Crunchbase: "Ello was originally built as a private social network. Over time, so many people wanted to join Ello that we built a public version of Ello for everyone to use."
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ello-inc#section-ove...
An early interview with Paul Budnitz (founder):
https://www.businessinsider.com/interview-with-ello-founder-...
I've cooled on the site myself, though think it might work, in its niche.
Note that that was written when they had taken $435,000 in VC, and now they're up to $11M: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ello-inc