The Social Web Foundation (SWF) is a new non-profit with a mission of "a growing, healthy, financially viable and multi-polar Fediverse”. In TechCrunch, Sarah Perez reported that SWF has “some backing” from Meta as well as Flipboard, Ghost, Mastodon, and others as well as a “large grant” from the Ford Foundation. “In total, SWF is closing in on $1 million in financial support.”
One of the hot buttons in the discussion is SWF’s relationship with Meta. So I set up a series of polls on Mastodon. Here are the options for this one – I’m not sure how to do polls on Lemmy, so please leave your thoughts in the comments
- SWF shouldn’t engage with Meta at all
- SWF should work with Meta occasionally, when it’s necessary
- SWF should work with Meta together often, but no formal relationship
- SWF should have Meta as a partner, advisor, or some other formal relatoinship, but no funding
- SWF should take funding from Meta, but no formal relationship
- SWF should take funding from Meta and a formal relatiionship
My point is that we should take their current approach as a good thing.
I"m not saying that we should blindly trust them, but I am saying that if we want corporations to Do The Right Things, then it’s a lot better to let them have a seat at the table and participate with the community than to simply ostracize them forever because of their past wrongdoings.