Below is the latest edition of w3w, my free newsletter about decentralization. If you would like to receive it in your inbox every Sunday, please subscribe here.
I honestly find msyelf torn between optimism and pessimism about social media lately. I see tangible reasons to support either sentiment, really.
Social is certainly in greater flux now than it has been in a long time, perhaps since Facebook famously overtook MySpace in the early 2000s. Users are increasingly wary of platforms' collection and usage of their data. And regulators are increasingly willing to reign in tech giants' business practices, including greater vigilance regarding antitrust.
Those are ultimately the optimistic parts, in my opinion. They effectively create opportunities for upstarts like Farcaster, Nostr, Spoutible, and Mastodon to either gain a foothold for the first time or, in Mastodon's case, get a second look from users after years of its developers plugging away. Heck, even trusty RSS, whose "death" has often been inaccurately reported, is in fact still very much alive and kicking.
That said, in terms of true mass reach and economic power, we must admit Meta's hegemony isn't truly broken yet. There is still much harm to real users that comes with that everyday. Plus we have the rising threat of AI deepfakes, including as potential weapons in state-sponsored disinformation campaigns.
There is also a curious problem I see playing out at both the giants and within some startups. It's a gross misreading of what moderation is, why it's absolutely necessary, and how it differs from censorship. (Think of pretty much anything Elon Musk has said on these topics since buying Twitter, for example.)
I've blogged at length about these distinctions previously. But to summarize: Most social platforms are ultimately private spaces, not true public commons, because they aren't collectively owned.
Thus it really shouldn't be considered some great moral affront to "free speech" for the owners of a private space to set some basic parameters around how it's used, to enforce those rules, and to kick out bad actors if they deem it necessary. That's all moderation is.
To put it a different way, there's the Golden Rule that entrepreneur Anil Dash offered way back in 2011:
"If your website's full of assholes, it's your fault."
That little maxim is still applicable as ever, I'd say. In fact, as some of the week's headlines will demonstrate, it seems the literal and figurative costs to social-media entrepreneurs for not kicking out assholes are piling up rapidly right now...
Week in Review: Aug. 18-24, 2024
- French authorities arrested Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov on Saturday. The BBC reports that police are investigating whether Telegram's relatively lax approach to content moderation effectively enables criminal activity on the platform. Durov's lawyer decried the arrest as "absoultely ridiculous" and an attack on free speech. Telegram's TON token has plummeted more than 14% on the news.
- The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Elon Musk's move to take Twitter private in late 2022 is now quantifiably the biggest money-losing deal for Wall Street's investment banks since the 2008 financial crisis. The banks have been stuck holding more than $13 billion debt related to the buyout for nearly two years. Yikes.
- Token prices soared, and major U.S. stock indexes neared new all-time highs. The rally was driven by new remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who clearly signaled the central bank will soon cut its benchmark interest-rate target. Such a move would effectively lower borrowing costs throughout the economy and encourage leveraged bets on riskier investments on Wall Street. Bitcoin jumped 7% on the week. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied as well and are both less than 1% away from new records entering Monday's trading.
- Bitcoin miner Bitfarms announced its acquisition of rival Stronghold Digital for $175 million in stock and assumed debt. (CoinDesk)
- El Salvador's government now holds more than $360 million in bitcoin and is buying about one full bitcoin a day. (Decrypt)
- A federal judge in Miami allowed part of a class-action lawsuit to proceed concerning the role of basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal in promoting the non-fungible token project Astrals. (CoinDesk)
- There was no mention of bitcoin or crypto in the policy platform released ahead of the Democratic Party's convention in Chicago last week. (Decrypt)
- Mayor VIC? A candidate seeking to run a small town in Wyoming is pledging to defer decisionmaking to an AI dubbed Virtual Integrated Citizen, if he's elected in November. The proposal is believed to be a first in U.S. politics -- and a potential harbinger of future races as AI becomes more widely adopted. (Washington Post))
- A new study in Australia suggests advances in AI are outpacing growth in media literacy. (Decrypt)
Community
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Odds & Ends
- Awww. A new study suggests that housecats mourn the deaths of companion pets. (Salon)
- ICYMI: Photographer Josh Dury recently caught breathtaking photos of the Perseid meteor shower over Stonehenge.
- Bautista Bomb, anyone? Action star Dave Bautista says he has been sneaking moves from his days as a WWE wrestler into his movies for years. (ComicBook.com)
That's it for now. Thanks for reading the newsletter today!
About me: I'm a New York-based creator with more than seven years' experience in marketing and content about web3. This newsletter grew out of the early stages of that journey, as I thought it might be useful to share what I was rapidly learning at the time about blockchain tech and decentralization with other people interested in such stuff.
During the COVID pandemic, I served as Head of Content for the censorship-resistant platform Blogchain. I have also done contract work for the World Economic Forum, the Telos Foundation, Dispatch Labs, and Vice News. Previously, I spent over a decade as an award-winning markets reporter at the Wall Street Journal.
To reach me directly with feedback, a story suggestion, or other queries, please email peter[at]w3w[dot]media.
Best wishes for a healthy and productive week ahead. 😊