At a time when established social media platforms are facing criticism and turbulence — from TikTok’s temporary shutdown to Meta’s withdrawal from fact-checking and growing criticism over political content moderation — a new approach to social media is gaining some attention.
“Help us put control back into the hands of the people!” declares Canadian developer Daniel Supernault, whose open-source platforms aim to provide privacy-focused alternatives to mainstream social media.
Supernault’s Kickstarter campaign, launched on Jan. 24, has already exceeded its initial CA$50,000 goal, TechCrunch reports, raising CA$93,022 (approximately US$64,839) as of 11:02 a.m. PT today. The funding will support the development of three platforms within the Fediverse — a decentralized network of interconnected social media services. These platforms include Pixelfed, Loops and Sup, designed as privacy-focused alternatives to Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp, respectively. Each platform rejects traditional venture capital funding and ad-based revenue models in favor of community-driven development.
That’s my initial thought, but what do we know about who owns it?
It’s owned by Brian Acton. The original founder of WhatsApp before it was sold to Meta. I’m yet to hear of controversial stories about him. Unless him being a billionaire irks you, i think it’s fine.
No, he is a founder and a donor. It’s owned by the Signal Foundation, which is a classic non-profit that seeks funding from lots of sources.
The other founder is Moxie Marlinspike who is a security researcher