FreeOurFeeds: The Social Revolution Against Digital Giants

Tired of billionaire-controlled social media's excesses, celebrities and experts have launched FreeOurFeeds, an ambitious project aimed at reinventing a digital ecosystem that serves the public good.

Social Media User Dissatisfaction

It’s widely known that many people around the globe are, to put it mildly, fed up with the current billionaires controlling our social media ecosystem. X has become a toxic mess. Meta is on its way there. TikTok might soon vanish in the US. Social media isn’t as fun or useful as it used to be.

FreeOurFeeds: Rescuing Social Media

However, a group of celebrities and former notable Twitter users are attempting to “rescue social media from billionaire capture” by launching FreeOurFeeds. Their aim is to develop a new social media ecosystem focused on public good rather than profit-driven incentives, as reported by User Mag.

Key Figures Behind the Initiative

The initiative includes prominent figures like actor Mark Ruffalo, actor/director Alex Winter, and science fiction writer/journalist Cory Doctorow. Brian Eno and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales are also involved. The plan involves building new social media apps using the existing AT protocol, a decentralized framework on which Bluesky operates. This would ostensibly give users significant control over their data, algorithms, and overall online experience.

Challenges Facing FreeOurFeeds

There are significant hurdles, however. Bluesky still relies on venture capital, so the team needs to raise funds to ensure the underlying technology can be set on an independent path, “freeing the future of social media from the whims of any corporation or group of billionaires.”

The foundation also needs money to start building essential infrastructure. Overall, the organization hopes to raise $30 million over the next three years. There’s currently a GoFundMe campaign aiming to initially raise $4 million. These initial funds will be used to establish a public interest foundation that aims to make the “underlying technology of Bluesky completely resistant to billionaire capture.”