When you post things on Instagram, Facebook, and X, this is what they look like to people who don’t use those platforms.

[mkj@social.mkj.earth]

@_elena Personally, I would honestly rather see public institutions offering a variety of ways to access what they publish.

Including easily located full-text RSS feeds through platforms they control. (Minimal third parties in between them and the people who want to access the information.)

And yes, Fediverse and their own web sites.

@aral

[maypop_neocities@wetdry.world]

@zed @aral can also fix instagram embeds with gockinstagram.com

[oneinterestingfact@mastodon.ie]

@aral

Great stuff. If they post on there then I have to assume they don't want me to know what they have to say.
And I really don't like to see mirrors of their posts on Mastodon so they can shout and they don't see any replies.

[jimmyb@mas.to]

@aral Thank you for saying this Aral. I often wonder how to point out to folks who post links to exclusive platforms, that this excludes me. And anyone else who takes a stance and refuses to use those platforms...

[qybat@batchats.net]

@aral @vicfroh And this is what posting to Imgur looks like in the UK, because UK privacy law is just strict enough that that it isn't worth Imgur's bandwidth to serve non-targetted ads.

[uplategeek@bitbang.social]

@aral it’s Schrödinger's content. If you login to view it, the quantum superposition collapses and you discover it either doesn’t exist, or that it wasn’t worth the effort because of the rest of the garbage on those platforms.

[krazov@mstdn.social]

@felwert @aral Seen alone, perhaps. The scenario I can see is this: they block people on Bluesky and by making their posts BS-only, they make sure that blockers cannot simply open a private tab and read them. A lot of visibility aspects on Mastodon were driven by these situations, too. That Bluesky allows only such a solution is not their fault.

[dps910@social.freedombits.org]

@aral yeah at least for X, there is nitter. Just replace x.com with nitter.net

Don't know about Instagram and Facebook, but im sure there is some way to view anonymously

[dps910@social.freedombits.org]

@aral oh also for reddit since it likes to block vpns, there is redlib. various different instances, the one I like to use is redlib.privacyredirect.com

[lywyn@mstdn.social]

@aral any business "website" that is just a Facebook page is an instant fail and no longer an option for me. Being pestered to create an account just check opening hours, what a great experience that is for new customers.

[amorpheus@kind.social]

@elettrona @aral @_elena @vicfroh I fully agree that independent journalism requires financing that is independent from state or corporations.

However, in my country for example, press codex states the duty of informing the public fully and truthful. Imho, the public includes such individuals that are less fortunate and not able to afford a subscription.

50 years back, before digital publishing, printed newspapers could be evaluated without financial obligation... head articles at the least.

[aetus@birdbutt.com]

@aral I just pass now. I have ancient accounts but offloaded the apps. Isn’t worth the hassle anymore. I’ll interact with people that have a social conscience instead.

[whasdah@mastodon.social]

@_elena @aral in europe, public organisations are taking care of much of the necessary infrastructure like railroads and roads. To make it possible for citizens to have easy and free access to decentralized digital platforms, european governments could host those servers themselves professionally. That would also take the burden off private volunteers working their buts off to keep servers in the air with all expenses connected. And so, decentralized services could also become more sustainable.

[elettrona@poliversity.it]

@Amorpheus @aral @_elena @vicfroh I agree. And, talking about digital newspapers, I'm blind. There are tons of digital newspapers which, if I pay them, I them find out they're IMAGES. Just PDF images not readable by assistive tech. What does it mean? Throw money down the toilet drain.
There are many blind-related associations which provide newspapers, but they decide which agreements to sign, according to political positions or whatever else, the result is that we can access what others want us to.

[stux@mstdn.social]

@aral And this is what public #Mastodon posts look like!

Even viewed from a 3rd instance it's still fully visible without account

Basically on each server with public timelines etc so tens of thousands of places

[fbinin@mastodon.fbin.in]

@aral
Agreed, but as a workaround use the alternative frontend.

[djdarren@mendeddrum.org]

@aral Tbh, I just use it as an excuse to not go any further, which usually ends up helping my blood pressure.

[bontchev@infosec.exchange]

@aral At least for Twitter, this is not true. Yeah, the page exhorts you to create an account - but it *does* show the post. At least on desktop; maybe it's different on mobile.

[knutson_brain@sfba.social]

@aral
Thank heavens.

[wuzzy@cyberplace.social]

@aral Shit like this make me wonder why this alone hasn’t lead to a giant user revolt and exodus years ago. Like, this should be completely disqualifying.
The whole point of "social media" goes out of the window if ALL posts are locked away (usually against the user’s wishes btw).

These terrible private billionaire playgrounds cannot crumble fast enough.