Login
You're viewing the mstdn.social public feed.

Replies

  • mekka okereke :verified:mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
    May 10, 2026, 8:45 PM

    @osma

    First of all, this is my thread, and my mentions. I decide what's main track and sidetrack.

    Now that we've cleared that up: the fact that Twitter was effective for combating the harms that I want to talk about are important to me. Mastodon is not effective at those things, because there are not enough Black people here. But there could be.

    Mastodon not being attractive as an acquisition target has nothing to do with whether or not there is or is not algorithmic content viewership here or editorial control. It is because even if there were 1000 algorithms and 1000 editors, they would all be independently owned. We agree on the decentralized point. I've already said that.

    But we don't agree on what makes a platform vulnerable to fascist takeover.

    As in, even if every major instance on Mastodon agreed to a single editor standard tomorrow, it would still not be as vulnerable as Twitter, because everyone could switch away from that the day after if they chose to. And because Mastodon is not a publicly traded company with a fiduciary responsibility to maximize shareholder returns.

    If I email Eugen and Renaud tomorrow, and show them definitive proof that Mastodon is unlikely to generate $10B over the next 5 years, but that if he takes my $10B, me and my fashy friends will return that to shareholders within 2 years, Renaud can just laugh in my face, tell me to get stuffed, and block my number. He won't be sued later for not considering the offer. This has nothing to do with Mastodon being a media or not.

    💬 1🔄 1⭐ 0
  • Osma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦osma@mas.to
    May 10, 2026, 11:57 PM

    Okay then. Do you know how many times in its history was Twitter able to post a positive earnings result and how much capital it destroyed while publicly listed?

    Twice in ten years and approx - 1.8 billion $. That's what made it vulnerable. No one wanted to compete with Elon's ketamine induced crazy bid. Not even Elon himself.

    Did you know that Netflix, meanwhile, did fight off a hostile takeover by Carl Icahn?

    Did you know Paramount was fought over in a bidding war?
    @mekkaokereke

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • mekka okereke :verified:mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
    May 11, 2026, 12:06 AM

    @osma

    OK, I'm disengaging because we're not going to agree on this, and because we've reached the weird part of the conversation where you're trying to 'splain specific corporate takeover attempts and their successful defenses to me, when the executives that defended against those takeovers are personal friends of mine.

    Be well.

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • Osma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦osma@mas.to
    May 11, 2026, 12:11 AM

    So you did know that profitability does lead to valuation and makes a public company defensible. I did suspect as much. I hope we still do agree that competing voices on a level playing field matter. Be well.
    @mekkaokereke

    💬 1🔄 0⭐ 0
  • 💬 0🔄 0⭐ 0