Malte Engeler

Democratic Party stars like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have also joined Bluesky. Are you doing anything to court celebrities and influencers? We’re doing some community outreach. We’re seeing a lot of growth in sectors with maybe not as big celebrities but a lot of traction, like sports media. The sports reporter Mina Kimes came on and created a starter pack, which got a lot of followers very quickly. We have game devs, we have sports, we have science. Would you welcome President Trump? Yeah—Bluesky’s for everyone, and we think that over time, the broader public conversation needs to be on an open protocol. That lets people choose their own moderation preferences. We think that it’s flexible enough to serve every use case and everyone.

A reminder that CEO of bluesky Jay said a while ago she'd welcome Trump if he joined

www.wired.com/story/big-in...

Yes that also captures aspects of it. And thanks for engaging.

I am sure the term is out there. It just felt fitting. If I coined it, I'd be surprised. But I can't to other writing that deals the the category or term specifically.

Convenience Criticism: On Rainer Mühlhoff's book about "AI" and Fascism Books about so-called “AI”, the hype around “AI” and the connection between “AI” and authoritarian and fascist forces are much needed these days. They are important resources for communities to unders...

People keep mentioning a new book by Rainer Mühlhoff, titled “KI und der neue Faschismus” (“AI and the new fascism”), to me.

Unfortunately, the book is an example of “convenience criticism”. It narrows the horizon of possibilities for fighting fascism.

www.structural-integrity.eu/convenience-...

Good text.

Reminds me of a quote from a famous Biden-administration advisor: "Transparency is usually a substitute for actually doing something."

don't post about what you did with ai. that shit is embarrassing

Malte Engeler (@malteengeler@legal.social) Attached: 1 image I rarely read fiction. I usually feel like I should read something real and learn something instead. I did however pick up Ursula K. Le Guin’s book “The Dispossessed” thanks to de...

Over on the other (actually decentralised) network I wrote a bit about Ursula K. Le Guin's book "The Dispossessed" and why neurodivergent readers might relate to the fictional (but practically relevant) story about an anarchist scientist struggling for social change.

legal.social/@malteengele...

With that in mind: A platform that is not ruled by a single, profit-driven entity like Bluesky (or any other commercial platform) can be a place to build lasting communities. Universities, libraries, cooperatives and other associations could help build that place now.

... as a concept it very much is viable. It needs a collaborative governance. It needs a community that develops mechanisms of accountability beyond the instance owners uncontested rule. To become that platform, it needs institutional support and people that are willing to be part of it.

Mastodon, as all parts of the Fediverse, has many problems: Bad branding, terrible attitude, technosolutionism to just name a few. It's reliance on "a decentralised protocol as the silver bullet" is a huge flaw and a symptom of its community being infected by cyberlibertarian brainrot.

And yet...

Looking at the meltdown of what is left of Bluesky's former semi-liberal brand I feel like this site here has irrecoverably startet its own exodus-timer.

With that in mind I'd kindly remind everyone that there are different solutions available, most prominently: Mastodon*

*yes, YES, I know

By the way, this is blatantly not true if you look at the way they suspended a bunch of people after Kirk's death. You can absolutely harass these people into moderating the way you want them to, you just have to be a right winger.

Digitaler Medienimperialismus Rechte und Liberale, EU und Staatsminister Weimer sind sich scheinbar einig: Die Marktmacht der großen US-Tech-Konzerne muss gebrochen werden. Warum sich Linke dieser Forderung nicht vorschnell anschl...

Wenn Rechte vor der Marktmacht von Big Tech warnen, dann ist das keine Basis für eine Allianz. Es ist Anlass, sich klar zu machen: Eine geteilte Kritik an Big Tech ist noch lange keine geteilte gesellschaftliche Vision.

Mein Text für das @ndaktuell.bsky.social 👇

www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1194...

Am 27. September haben wir gemeinsam mit rund  100 000 Teilnehmenden bei der „Alle zusammen für Gaza“-Demo protestiert. Währenddessen wurde eine weitere Palästina‑Demo am Moritzplatz von der Polizei erst brutal zusammengeschlagen und dann aufgelöst – ein Vorgehen, das in den letzten zwei Jahren zum Standardrepertoire der Cops im Umgang mit Palästinasolidarität geworden ist. Auch die „Alle zusammen für Gaza“-Demo blieb nicht von polizeilicher Gewalt verschont. Dort wurden Mitglieder von Migrantifa kollektiv aus der Menge herausgezogen und im angrenzenden Park isoliert. Dieses Vorgehen ist kein Zufall! Immer wieder richtet sich staatliche Repression gezielt gegen migrantisierte Menschen, BIPoCs und andere marginalisierte Gruppen. Durch solche Maßnahmen wird versucht, uns in „gute“ und „schlechte“ Demonstrierende einzuteilen – dem müssen wir entschieden entgegentreten! Wir verurteilen jede Form staatlicher Repression aufs Schärfste und stehen an der Seite all jener, die davon betroffen sind. Solidarität mit Palästina ist kein Verbrechen! Free Palestine and Abolish the Police!

Wir verurteilen jede Form staatlicher Repression und stehen an der Seite all jener, die davon betroffen sind.

Solidarität mit Palästina ist kein Verbrechen!
Free Palestine and Abolish the Police!
#freeGaza #allezusammenfürgaza #b2709

Auf der Kachel ist ein Bild der Siegessäule in Berlin zu sehen. Der Hintergrund ist pink und grün. Darauf steht: “Neuentreffen Berlin. Donnerstag, 25.9 um 19 Uhr online. Betreff “Neuentreffen”, berlin@afd-verbot.jetzt.”. Ausserdem ist das Logo der AfD-Verbot Jetzt Kampagne abgebildet.

Berliner*innen aufgepasst: am Donnerstag, dem 25.9 lädt unsere Lokalgruppe online zum Neuentreffen. Schickt uns einfach eine Mail mit dem Betreff “Neuentreffen” an berlin@afd-verbot.jetzt.
Wir freuen uns auf euch 🩷💚✊

Es ist übrigens nicht möglich, sich für aufgeklärt, menschenrechtsorientiert, rechtsstaatlich und geschichtsbewusst zu halten und zum Morden in Gaza keine klaren, verurteilenden Worte zu finden.

This kind of policy work is wasting space and attention that is much needed for bold and transformative answers. As Aline says:

"By describing a real problem and writing about an inadequate solution, it becomes harder for others to open up the window she almost closed."

Excellent text ✨

So many people build their reputation as a "critic" on strikingly precise and eloquent analysis of a problem to then only suggest solutions that are harmless to the status quo and guarantee a wide audience.

And just like Aline said: This is by no means a criticism towards specific people. We all have our roles and being the head of signal is one for sure. Yet, this is not an outlier.

On Signal’s Meredith Whittaker in The Economist. Or: The origins of poor digital policy demands Over the last years, I have taken part in numerous meetings about how to square the circle of formulating policy demands that both make a difference and have a vague prospect of being adopted by polic...

I am happy and thankful that Aline Blankertz took the time to write down her thoughts. I very much agree: This specific kind of criticism is systemic to how progressive policy people deal with current issues.

www.structural-integrity.eu/on-signals-m...

After reading @meredithmeredith.bsky.social's essay in The Economist I was baffled by the discrepancy between the factual analysis and the policy demands derived from it: Brilliant and precise awareness of what is wrong is met by unambitious calls for "a-little-less-terrible".

It's a trap. Breaking up Big Tech is well and fine. But it's not an end to itself. It can be a crack in the hegemony of capitalism. It can also simply be a tool to boost EU corporations who are more easily to put in line with our own European nationalists agendas (aka "digital sovereignty").

Don't mistake formal similarities in means (breaking up of US Big Tech) with a shared material goal: Emanzipation and democratic control over technologies.

Wolfram Weimer founded the right-wing outlet "Cicero" and regularly pushes right-wing or right-conservative positions. It should be absolutely obvious from his political profile what "freedom of speech" means in this context: A shift of the overton window further to the right.

Hey digital policy people 👋,

please be cautious what framings you adapt and boost. Example: The German Minister of State for Culture (Wolfram Weimer) is calling for breaking up Google to safeguard "freedom of speech".

Resisting AI Resisting AI - An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence; Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere, yet it causes damage to society in ways that can’t be fixed. Calling for the restructuri...

I wrote 'Resisting AI' (subtitled 'An Anti-fascist approach to Artificial Intelligence') to help preempt the kind of convergence of far right politics and the tech sector that we are waking up to today. The struggle against fascistic solutionism continues. bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/resisting-ai

Breaking up Big Tech is good and fine. But it's not an end to itself. It can be a crack in the hegemony of capitalism. It can also simply be a tool to boost EU corporations who are more easily to put in line with our own home-grown nationalists and authoritarian agendas (aka "digital sovereignty").

Don't mistake formal similarities in means (breaking up of US Big Tech) with a shared material goal: Emanzipation and democratic control over technologies.

Wolfram Weimer founded the right-wing outlet "Cicero" and regularly pushes right-wing or right-conservative positions. It should be absolutely obvious from his political profile what "freedom of speech" means in this context: A shift of the overton window further to the right.

Dear leftists,

please be cautious what framings you adapt and boost. Example: The German Minister of State for Culture (Wolfram Weimer) is calling for breaking up Google to safeguard "freedom of speech".