when an open atproto app exists, as i said from the start, i’d prefer that. there’s a fediverse app that, if it proves not to be vapor, may show up soon. i’d prefer that. 1/

i don’t disagree that CCP is aligned in the sense it prefers to see liberal democracy sabotaged as a competing model. but i think that’s a secondary priority to CCP where castrating democratic government is the main priority of the Musk-ists, and the Musk-ists are far more imminent a threat. 2/

Google has been a terrible actor for a very long time, before the more ideological and directly political phase that Thiel and Musk have introduced. They’ve been ever more aggressively surveillant, and a debilitating parasite on the open web. 3/

Yes, they are less openly ideological, but they share the same structure and material interest as Musk or Bezos, a plutocratic distribution of wealth among their shareholders. 4/

I look forward to an emerging, open alternative. and i don’t actually spend a lot of time on tiktok-like apps. but when i do, given the choice between Meta, Google, or Musk and a Chinese app, I’ll pick the Chinese app. 5/

I do enjoy the people-to-people Connection aspect of redbook. CCP may be terrible, but it’s nice to see Americans and Chinese people joking around and spreading the ordinary affection that comes from intercourse. 6/

It’s not likely to last, as CCP is likely either to insist on reseparation to ensure control or to aggressively manage the experience of foreign users to portray its own line. But for now, in this moment of wtf, there’s something lovely in it. /fin