What is Fédivers, “the future of social networks” that Meta talks about?

“We plan to integrate Threads into the fediverse, a social network made up of different servers operated by third parties.” This abstruse message displayed when you download the new application from the Meta group, freshly arrived in Europe on December 14, is surprising. The “fediverse” is not a news item, but indeed a system presented as the future of social networks by its creators.

The principle ? Allow users of platform A, for example X (ex-Twitter), to exchange with those of platform B, Instagram, without having to register. The system is not new. If the fediverse was created in 2008, its interoperability system has existed since the construction of the Internet: this is how users of a Yahoo mailbox can read messages from Gmail and send them to Outlook. But many large platforms today operate in isolation.

The fediver currently has very few web players among its ranks, apart from Tumblr, Flickr or Mastodon, an alternative to X which claims 1.8 million monthly active users. But it is destined to expand, especially with the future integration of Threads.

For Meta, the advantage of integrating ActivityPub is simple: attract new users to its platform, especially those who would be reluctant to do so. In recent years, the group, shaken by controversies such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, has been trying to renew its image. To do this, he is looking for new models.

The fediverse, contracting the words “federation” and “universe”, caught his attention. We must imagine it as a galaxy of small independent digital planets, “instances”, which can nevertheless communicate and interact with each other. The objective: to be able to consult and publish on competing platforms without leaving the interface you are on. And this is thanks to the ActivityPub protocol, the universal language of decentralized social networks.

“Threaders” could therefore in the future exchange with Mastodon users without leaving the Meta group application, and vice versa. Mark Zuckerberg also announced at the beginning of the month that Threads was starting to show publications on this other network. Without however allowing you to post from there.

The promises of the fediver are ambitious. It will also be possible to transfer your subscribers without starting from scratch if you open an account on another platform, and to personalize your feed, without being confronted with opaque algorithms and intrusive advertisements. This model, which is intended to be transparent, was designed to restrict the collection of personal data, disinformation or the wave of hatred online. It would then allow you to decide freely which platform to use.

Also read: WhatsApp, Meta's new lethal weapon

At a time of major regulations in the digital world and in particular the DSA (Digital Services Act), interoperability is at the heart of discussions. The European Union hopes for a world where all services can communicate with each other, even though they are still designed in isolation. Couriers will be the first to be affected. Soon, a Whatsapp user will be able to write to a friend who only uses Signal or Telegram.

Thanks to its link with Instagram, which has more than 2 billion users, Threads benefited from a large potential user base upon its announcement. ActivityPub compatibility would therefore be the icing on the cake today.

But its integration does not please other players in the fediverse. In particular, they fear that Meta will implement the “Adopt, extend and exterminate” strategy, which consists of a company adopting a particular technological protocol, extending it with additional characteristics, then work to make the original protocol obsolete in order to dominate an industry and extinguish the competition.

Certain authorities are therefore firmly opposed to the arrival of Zuckerberg's group, by signing the “Fédipact”, where they undertake to block Meta services from their platform.

And for good reason. On the Meta side, integrating the fediverse is a 180 degree turn. The group, which has long kept the operation of its networks opaque, now advocates transparency. Suddenly opening the doors to other platforms seems improbable at first.

Also read Why the Bluesky network is attracting more and more X users

If as Threads grows, integration with the fediver becomes a solid project, there are also more and more reasons for Meta to try to reverse its decentralization plans. In an interview with the American site The Verge, Mark Zuckerberg reiterated his project. “The more interoperability there is between different services and the more content can circulate, the more efficient social networks can be.”

It therefore seems that the group could go all the way... and pave the way for others, even if the fediverse is not up to date with all the web giants. If the former management of Twitter (now X) was favorable to the idea of ​​making it an open platform, Elon Musk has largely backpedaled.