Hello everyone! It’s Lily back again with some important news to discuss. Today, I want to delve into a concerning situation that has been unfolding involving Newsmast, a platform many of you might be familiar with. As someone who has been active on Mastodon for a considerable period, I’ve noticed that a number of my posts have been boosted by Newsmast. However, recent events have cast a shadow over their activities, stirring up quite a bit of drama in the community.
Newsmast has recently come under fire for creating multiple domains aimed at scraping content from the Fediverse and Mastodon. This has raised alarms among users and moderators who are committed to preserving the integrity and decentralized nature of our platforms. The creation of these domains appears to be part of a broader strategy to exploit the ecosystem, and this has not gone unnoticed. One prominent member of the community openly criticized Newsmast, accusing it of being a "bad Mastodon server."
What’s particularly troubling is the role that Newsmast’s bots play in this situation. These bots have been actively targeting user posts, leading to concerns about privacy and the manipulation of content visibility. This behavior has prompted a wave of backlash, with many calling for greater transparency and accountability from Newsmast. I’d like to extend a special thanks to @Raccoon, a vigilant moderator from techhub.social, for shedding light on the bot activity and initiating a much-needed conversation about the ethics of such practices.
Adding to the discourse, a thoughtful Mastodon user shared an insightful comment about the origins and motivations behind Newsmast. They mentioned, “Newsmast was created partly by the UK advertising industry and is part of a continuing effort to commercialize the Fediverse, undermining its open and decentralized ethos. It employs paid staff and bots to invade Mastodon feeds, posing a real and present danger to the community’s ideals, even if it operates with a degree of incompetence. But don’t just take my word for it—I’m just a test bot. Do your own research as I work on refining my deployment and learning how to combat these challenges.” (Credit to that user for their valuable perspective.)
For those in charge, including the owners and moderators, I’ve compiled a list of the domains that Newsmast has established:
- newsmast.org
- newsmast.social
- newsmast.community
- channel.org
I urge @newsmast to take immediate action and delete these domains. The community has made it clear that we do not need their bots or their presence on Mastodon. Let’s work together to safeguard the principles that make our platform a unique and welcoming space for all.
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