Alternative protocols are not the solution to social media

October 13, 2025

Neither ActivityPub or AT protocol have meaningfully solved the problem of centralization. As in what you say online is still in some way mediated through a central authority. In the the case of Bluesky, Link is now banned from the Bluesky App View, although you can still view their posts on the Bluesky firehose feed. As Blacksky relies on the Bluesky App View, Link’s account is not visible. In the case of ActivityPub, your account could be banned for any reason by whoever runs your Mastodon server. After all, it is their server.

People switched to Bluesky not because they understand the AT protocol, but because they were looking for a Twitter replacement. Once enough influential people moved in, their audience followed. But it didn’t change online behavior. The online left is still interested in conducting online witch hunts. Trying to twist the arm of the CEO is not going to work in the way it might have before on Twitter before Elon Musk. Their performative online behavior isn’t relevant for most people to doomscroll to.

Not Twitter is not enough of an alternative. These social platforms are still an indirect way of reaching people. What both ActivityPub and AT protocol do give the user is more individual control over what they want to see. But they are not changing the fundamental quality of online conversation.

The dream of Open Social is still far from becoming mainstream.