The Arab Spring is a great case study on why that type of resistance will never happen in the USA. The proliferation of social media was a key spark in those movements. Let’s take a look at what stance those platforms take today:
Wasn’t social media necessary because the government blocked SMS? We now have plenty of alternative solutions that aren’t under the control of billionaires…
Signal is based in San Francisco and, last I checked, runs on AWS/Azure. Bsky is similar, US based and operated. Google/Apple could be ordered to delist anything from their stores preventing wide adoption of other apps.
Best I can think of is something very decentralized like Briar or Matrix/fediverse/i2p alternatives. As of right now, adoption of those is limited. If you pulled the lever tomorrow and cut the major platforms, most people wouldn’t even know where to go as a fallback.
The Arab Spring is a great case study on why that type of resistance will never happen in the USA. The proliferation of social media was a key spark in those movements. Let’s take a look at what stance those platforms take today:
Wasn’t social media necessary because the government blocked SMS? We now have plenty of alternative solutions that aren’t under the control of billionaires…
Any that are widely in use or accessible?
Signal is based in San Francisco and, last I checked, runs on AWS/Azure. Bsky is similar, US based and operated. Google/Apple could be ordered to delist anything from their stores preventing wide adoption of other apps.
Best I can think of is something very decentralized like Briar or Matrix/fediverse/i2p alternatives. As of right now, adoption of those is limited. If you pulled the lever tomorrow and cut the major platforms, most people wouldn’t even know where to go as a fallback.