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The reason they assume they own our data is that when social media platforms became popular, they put these rights in their terms and got away with it, because most of us don't read the legal fine print. But now more and more are waking up to the fact that we got a bad deal. Take a look at Reddit's ToS for example (HN has a similar clause btw): >By submitting user content to reddit, you grant us a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform, or publicly display your user content in any medium and for any purpose, including commercial purposes, and to authorize others to do so. By moving to self-hosting through protocols like IPFS or Arweave, and having social applications built on top, two problems can be solved at once. 1. Your data isn't locked in anymore. All your social media posts, images, etc can be shared with multiple platforms at the same time. If you quit one of them your data won't disappear because all you did is grant them access, it's still in your control. This completely eliminated the issue with moving apps and having to start anew each time. 2. You can be in control of all rights. You can grant the platforms non-exclusive licenses if you see a benefit in that, or you can restrict them from making money with your content without paying you royalties. It's all up to the user. |