At first I thought I would quietly delete or deactivate my facebook accont. But that would be a missed opportunity. I have thought about social media and fb in particular for a long time. It has been a long journey to come to this point. I'm leaving for many reasons. I've planned on doing so for quite some time, however I am finally actually leaving right now for some partcular reasons. I can share those. I can use the medium to carry one final message. I want fb/meta and all social media to change drastically. I think change is possible. I believe that there is a movement and this is a moment that could potentially have a massive impact on the future of social media. Instead of slipping away quietly I should launch a personal capaign.
My first idea is to finish my preparations - reaching out to all "friends". Then I will make one announcement that I am leaving. I will set a date. 13 days or 7 or some special prime number of days away and pledge to post something each day with details. I will be willing to correspond with anyone who engages in good faith during that time. I will not respond to anyone who wants to argue that people should never leave fb, I don't think.
I will announce a challenge at the beginning of the countdown, saying that I am curious to see if fb will act defensively to suppress my campaign. I will escalate first, discussing social media and private ownership of the commons more generally. Then I will progress to both denouncing META policies specifically and I will promote alternatives. The goal is to see if I can get banned or my messages blocked. I will tell my audience that I am serious about my pledge to make one new post per day and if they don't see a post they should assume that it was blocked. They should already know by then how to reach me.
I will talk about the policies to rescind fact checking and to cease moderation of harrassment of members of the queer, 2slgbtqiaa+ communities and newcomers and any other vulnerable group. I will relate articles and new that I have read discussing these policies. I will encourage people to build resiliance. Even if they are unwilling or unable to delete or deactivate their own meta accounts at this time, they should start to take measures to protect themselves from further deterioration of their real communities.
I will discuss many metaphors of the commons. Consider privately owned public infrastructure like roads, markets, town squares. I will plug writers like Julie Serano, Doc Imppossible, Cory Doctorow. I will promote the fediverse, and [matrix] and old school listserves/mailing lists. I will argue that democracy even in light of recent events is better than the present alternatives. Get organized if you want to see change.
I'm not a leader or an influencer. I am not organizing something. But I am speaking while I can about something that matters to me. I am making a small but tangible sacrifice for my beliefs and my values. This isn't something I've done too often before (if ever). I usually prefer to quietly line up behind a strong and confident leader and support them while keeping my voice as low as possible. I plan to keep doing that. It's only in this particular case that my personal experience, feelings, interests and views are so patently political that I cannot pretend that they aren't relevant.
If what I say offends you, I'm sorry. Let me clarify I'm not judging anyone who chooses not to leave this website or it's affiliates. Because I don't know your reasons. However I am telling you my reasons. And if you choose to tell me your reasons then perhaps I will judge those reasons. Does that make sense? If you reply to one of these messages with arguments, I might engage. If it feels safe enough for me to do so. And if your reasons seem mistaken or hurtful to me I will tell you so. Right, I'm not going to judge you but I expect you to judge me. Quietly perhaps. Consider my reasons.