The Algorithm, Singular
A new European ruling on algorithmic amplification determines if an operator controls how content spreads on a platform. But applying it to open social networks turns out to be a problem.
Connected Places
Understanding how the new social web works
Latest posts
FR#168 – LLMs Join The Fediverse
How to build a fediverse community when bots are indistinguishable from humans on applications to join?
The Permission Machine
When Elon Musk calls to imprison the government, it turns out not to matter very much. But when thousands of accounts repeat each other, it matters enormously.
Decrypting Matrix – Where Do Rooms Go?
Matrix has been running private rooms on open protocols for a decade, and they ended up inside European governments. This piece is about why happened, and why it does not have to be the result of the various projects for private data and rooms on the open social web too.
FR#167 – Change
On coordination in a decentralised network, and the European Social Stack declaration.
FR#166 – No Change
Many people in Europe see the open social web as a path to digital sovereignty. This week demonstrated a problem: the assumption that European governments actually want to be sovereign.
FR#165 – Fediverse News May 2026
On overview of all the news in the fediverse for the last month.
FR#164 – The Pope on Defederation
This week, the Catholic Church wrote one of the better diagnoses of why decentralised social networks keep struggling.
FR#163 – Decrypting Matrix
On the convergence towards private data on social networking protocols, and the connection to Matrix
FR#162 – EU Regulation Won’t Save Open Social Networks
The European Commission has decided not to extend the Digital Markets Act's interoperability rules to social media, closing off a potential pathway for adoption for open social networks.