Beyond the Walled Gardens: Tools for a Healthier, Decentralized Web

Tags: technofeudalism
Date: 2025-06-06

I’ve talked about the concept of technofeudalism and the risks of concentrating online platforms in the hands of a few. By accepting the terms of these few, we give up some of our freedoms, and worse, we allow even essential services like access to information, self-expression or public debate to be driven entirely by profit. If all of this has moved online, then the internet becomes a place where our rights must be respected.

Relying on companies means delegating important aspects to our lives to the logic of profit. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, as long as we’re aware that the most profitable solution is not always the best one for the users. A social network is interested in keeping you connected as long as possible, to show you as many ads as possible or to sell ad space at higher prices. A news website might not care about the quality of its reporting, as long as you keep clicking links. No tech giant is concerned with your well-being, and that’s exactly why we should be.

There are alternatives, and they’ve been around for a while.

Fediverse

When you send an email, it doesn’t matter which provider the recipient uses, as long as the address is valid. The structure of an email is standardized: sender, recipient(s), message body, optional attachments, etc. It works whether the other person uses Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo! or iCloud. You choose your favourite provider and you can communicate with anyone.

Now think about it: social media posts are also pretty standardized. There’s a handle, some text, maybe an image or video, likes, comments and a way to share. So why is every social network isolated? Why can’t you use your Facebook account to follow someone on Twitter/X? Well, you can, but only if those platforms are part of the Fediverse, a network of social platforms (and more) that follow the same open protocol: ActivityPub.

Please note: None of the major tech companies are part of the Fediverse, with the exception of Meta’s Threads, which is currently testing integration with the Fediverse for users outside the EU.

RSS Feeds

Now imagine having a single place where you can read posts from all the people you follow, news from your favorite outlets, and articles from the blogs you follow. Good news: you already can, as long as those sites have an RSS feed (which, thankfully, is still quite common).
Just add your preferred sources to any RSS reader and you’ll have a curated, organized stream of content that’s entirely managed by you.

Please note: Add me to your RSS feed :)

Indie Web

In my first article, I wrote about how social networks have led to the standardization of content through the standardization of form.

But there’s still a small corner of the web that takes pride in doing things their own way. Mostly hobbyists, they were drawn to the internet back when it was full of blogs, forums, and quirky little websites, each one different from the next. These creators still believe in a free and creative web. And where can you find them? Well, that’s the thing, they’re not always indexed. Some promote their work on social media, others rely on backlinks or mentions from fellow sites, and some don’t promote at all.

Often, their goal isn’t to create something successful, but to create something personal.