Decentralized Social Networks vs the Trolls

Note: since publishing this video, I've spoken with various Black fediverse moderators and users, and many say that the Fediverse doesn't give them sufficient tools to handle abuse. "Technology can't ultimately solve problems that humans create" was a common refrain. Decentralized networks provide by their structure some ways to address the challenges of centralized networks, but they are not a panacea for hostility online.
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The ActivityPub protocol powers a vast, decentralized social netwwork called the Fediverse. How does content moderation play out in a social network so different from centralized platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Users of Mastodon, Peertube, Pixelfed, Pleroma, Misskey and Write Freely - and others besides - have a unique experience dealing with bad actors.
This video explores how admins and activists across the Fediverse worked over a year to isolate and reject the far-right social network Gab when it joined in June 2019. Through a mix of codes of conduct, human moderation, strong moderation tools, and good old fashioned activism to block bad actors at the instance level, bad actors like Gab are systematically containtained in their own private sphere.
This video essay relies on conversations with 80 people, including network admins, moderators, hate speech monitors, and every day users, as well as a survey of 674 network members.
Read more at: link.springer....