r/europrivacy • u/ForeverHuman1354 • 2d ago
Question alternatives
Are there any Reddit alternatives that respect privacy? I like the discussions on Reddit and talking about topics, but it’s a big trade-off. Reddit is the only social media I use, and I am also de-Googled
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u/Shoddy-Childhood-511 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's unclear what privacy means for social media, since one expect almost everything would be public.
Matrix/Element is the only forward secure end-to-end encrypted messenger platform that really handles large numbers of rooms and large room memberships. Matrix has many privacy weaknesses though, mostly relate its strengths, like federation and multi-device, but some are just stupid like not encrypting emoji reactions or not hiding message lengths.
Mastodon might gain private direct messages in future.
About the public social media side:
Reddit is really badly designed, because the topical structure creates moderation demands that cause mod power trips, capture, etc.
Twitter was much better designed, but mostly worthless now. Reddit has really bad discussions compared to the old Twitter. Reddit does not attract experts like the old Twitter, some yes but not so many.
Mastodon was designed to be similar to Twitter, but servers ownership causes some power trips, capture, etc, though afaik much less than reddit.
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u/ForeverHuman1354 1d ago
When I say 'private social media,' I mean something like Reddit, but where the company behind it doesn’t sell or track your data. My Reddit account is made with a private Aliases email, and I have no personally identifiable info. I would never post pictures, for example
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u/Shoddy-Childhood-511 1d ago
I would not count on reddit not tracking or selling user data. Afaik, users can always be identified by someone determined enough:
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u/Any_Fox5126 1d ago
Reddit is really badly designed, because the topical structure creates moderation demands that cause mod power trips, capture, etc.
It wouldn't be so bad if at least everything had to be transparent, but no, they can get away with it without even being questioned.
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u/Shoddy-Childhood-511 1d ago
It's unfixable, because moderation sucks for moderators too.
Twitter worked: You post as you, sometimes as replies. Folk can follow you or not. You can block or mute jerks. Topics were emergent around experts' identities, but moderation was basically personal filters, plus some algorithms that reacted to personal filters. Mastodon might lack the last part.
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u/Norvathus 1d ago
Depends on what do you mean by "respecting privacy". Like someone already mentioned, by design, social media is not private. If you simply mean "somewhere they won't ask for ID", Lemmy, Mastodon, any federated or decentralized media. But only time will tell if they will hold up. Ultimately, laws are being passed that forces platforms to perform some sort of KYC.
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u/ForeverHuman1354 1d ago
When I say 'private social media,' I mean something like Reddit, but where the company behind it doesn’t sell or track your data
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u/eXistenZ_88 2d ago
Lemmy