Answers to these questions will help structure responses across three critical constituencies: the developers of open-source fediverse services, and the developers of complementary tools and features that enable effective moderation of federated social media; the individuals and groups engaged in investigations, analysis, and moderation of federated services; and investors, funders, and donors engaged with platform governance and counter-manipulation efforts.

Notably absent: The END FUCKING USERS!

This is probably the biggest blindspot in their analysis. They assume everyone is a helpless victim being manipulated by ‘evil’ governments like Russia, China, and Venezuela. Mastodon is a relatively small platform. There are very few celebrities. There are very few news organizations. People make an active choice to go there. Choosing which social media website you want to spend your time on is, in fact, a demonstration of media literacy. The ‘threats’ inherent to mass-media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are substantially different in nature from the ‘threats’ the alliance will encounter by small-ish tight-knit internet communities which stand by their principles.