With Threads starting to federate, there has been push back in corners of Mastodon, with some server admins blocking users from @threads.net entirely. I think just about everyone has complicated feelings about Meta, but I think this kind of move only harms users of the Fediverse.
Adam Newbold has written about this, and I agree with their conclusions:
The entire point of the Fediverse and the ActivityPub standard is to make it easy for people to connect with one another, openly, across different platforms. The Fediverse wants to be open, and it is open by design. When you block another instance on the Fediverse, you’re making a deliberate choice to fracture a part of the network. There are legitimate reasons to do that, but it’s a serious move that should always be a last resort. And when you preemptively block what might wind up being the largest instance ever, well, there might as well not even be a network at all. People who want to connect with one another on either side of that fissure will need to pick one side or the other and connect there. If you’re wondering which side that will be in the context of Threads, you can look to WhatsApp’s two billion monthly active users for your answer.
There’s no doubt in my mind that Threads will be the largest instance on the network in very little time, and once migration is fully up and running, I think many folks may opt to use it as their primary account, leaving Mastodon behind. Cutting Threads off at the server level doesn’t accomplish anything useful.
That said, many people have seen posts on Threads that have been offensive, including a rash of transphobic and other garbage-level content. There’s no doubt that Threads has had many moderation issues — just like every other social media platform, including Mastodon.
However, if someone uses Mastodon as their home base in the Fediverse, choosing to follow a select number of Threads accounts from nice people and useful websites means the whatever algorithmic choices are made at Meta will not wash ashore on their timelines.
That’s the whole point of federated social media, and why this new world is much more interesting than the old.
via Robb Knight