X doesn't do that for me either... If you see posts you don't like, block/hide them. X learns.
That's the cost of a free platform though. Rather have that than being banned for thinking wrong.
That's the cost of a free platform though. Rather have that than being banned for thinking wrong.
Meanwhile, Musk himself is banning people for thinking what he decides is wrong.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/06/business/x-banned-a-journalis...
https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-x-twitter-account-...
https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-technology-business-dac...
https://www.businessinsider.com/free-speech-censorship-elon-...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/musk-tried-to-punish-criti...
Should I go on?
Elon Musk's tenure at X (formerly Twitter) has been marked by a series of actions that starkly contrast his self-proclaimed stance as a "free speech absolutist." Despite his vocal advocacy for unrestricted expression, Musk has overseen a significant increase in account suspensions and content restrictions, often targeting critics and journalists.
Notably, X has suspended numerous journalists who have reported critically on Musk or his ventures. For instance, in December 2022, the platform suspended accounts of reporters from The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN, among others, who covered Musk's activities. These actions have raised concerns about the suppression of dissenting voices and the erosion of journalistic freedom on the platform. Associated Press
Furthermore, under Musk's leadership, X has shown a heightened willingness to comply with government censorship requests. During the 2023 Turkish presidential election, the platform restricted access to certain content within Turkey, a move that critics argue was influenced by Musk's business interests in the region, including SpaceX's satellite launches in collaboration with the Turkish government.
These actions suggest a departure from Musk's professed commitment to free speech, revealing a pattern of behavior that prioritizes personal and business interests over the principle of open expression. The increasing suppression of critical voices and compliance with authoritarian regimes' censorship demands highlight a concerning inconsistency between Musk's stated ideals and his actions as the steward of a major social media platform.
How do you define “free”?
From what I can tell, most content moderation on bluesky is done via labelers, which you need a pds to run, but not to use.
Both X and bluesky have semi-automated moderation processes with an inherent false positive rate. The two high profile cases I'm aware of (Jessie Singal and Laura Loomer) that were suspended automatically eventually got turned back on once a human was involved.
https://bsky.app/profile/jessesingal.com
https://bsky.app/profile/loomered.bsky.social/post/3lemtdvls...
The API is open and free too, making it much easier to build on the network. The system is designed so that we can design new record types and create all sorts of applications on ATProto. It's going to go well beyond just a Twitter clone and each app shares the same social fabric, instead of having to attract their own, which is going to accelerate the network effect
Is it perfectly federated, no, there are weak points that will be made less weak with time. It's not a reason to put it down
Personally I found the "job" of managing who you follow / feed and pruning on twitter tiresome and at times impossible.
Bluesky has been better, maybe only due to fewer people, but if so then so be it.
Side note: It is amusing how the current ownership's concern about bots vanished as soon as they took over.
https://github.blog/news-insights/the-library/browser-monito...
tl;dr - anyone can run a labelling service, users have choice which one(s) they use (Bluesky &| 3rd party), competition and network effect will surface the good ones and weed out the bad ones.
This concept is going to be extended to community notes, sometime this year I suspect
I think it will be more successful than Mastodon has been.
Though people do seem to prefer a consistent moderation policy, even if it's harsher. People don't like to have free speech about the things they want to speak about, and have another group of people choose to ignore it. They want to either speak to everyone at once or be blocked from everyone at once (at which time they make a new account).
The reason Mastodon | ActivityPub is not on boarding users like Bluesky | ATProto has a lot to do with the friction and discovery differences. ATProto was designed in part by understanding where ActivityPub had limitations and rough edges