Platform/Service Alternatives
There's been an increasing amount of platforms out there from social media to texting apps which take advantage of users by exploiting their data. This page will list alternatives to platforms as a means to have for more people aware of freedom respecting options out there.
This one is quite simple considering micro-blogging is nothing new.
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Mastodon | The most popular alternative right now, as it's nearly 1:1 with twitter. Find an instance that matches you interests. |
| Pleroma | Quite similar to Mastodon however is more customizeable and is more lightweight. |
| Nitter | If you still wish to view your timeline you can always use Nitter, which is free respecting front-end for Twitter |
Note: Mastodon and Pleroma are federated, which means no matter the instance, you'll have access to all fediverse timelines from all platforms in one. You'll have a home timeline, which are people you follow, then a local which is people just in your instance, and then the federated timeline which shows all posts from across the fediverse. Follow who you want, see what you want, you're in control. Also no ads, so what's not to love.
YouTube
YouTube might not seem like a pervasive platform but it in fact is. Content will oftern get shadowbanned and removed from feeds for not being advertiser-friendly. Google/YouTube will creating an advertising profile based on what you follow, what you watch, and even what your searching for within their platform to then use against you on other sites and in other apps.
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Invidious* | A free software client for youtube that has no ads, can be self-hosted, and allows customization of the ui. |
| Lbry | Lbry is a free software alternative to YouTube that supports creators and allows for a fair use and freedom of speech. |
| PeerTube** | PeerTube is a federated aproach to video sharing, which means anyone can start their own instance. |
* Invidious can be self-hosted and has many front-ends for it all over the web.
** PeerTube works in tandom with Mastodon since it's part of the fediverse. You can like and comment on videos from your mastodon account.
Slack/Discord
These popular chat apps are proprietary and by using them you'll be subject to surveillance and putting yourself and those you chat with at potential risk.
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| IRC | IRC is easy to setup, there's still thousands of communities out there. Text only so only good in regards to chatting with people over keyboard. |
| Matrix/Riot.im | The Matrix protocol is even kept secure with 2FA and PGP signing. There's a good amount of communities around it, with support on some clients for IRC. It also offers voice calls as well. |
| Mumble | If you care more for voice Mumble has you covered while also having chats and channels within. |
People handling sensitive information for work related subjects should really look into these options considering your privacy and possibly your clients' privacy is at stake by using other platforms.
Discord can hide malicious files on a host computer In Slack, your private messages can be read by others.
More to come...
I'm working on compiling a list for as many platforms as I can, so this list will grow as I continue to discover and make note of all the platforms.