Thoughts on BBC joining the fediverse

I have a lot a lot of conflicting feelings towards the #BBC 's recent decision to join the #fediverse. Considering the limitations of the microblogging format, and it's tendency to discourage expressing of complex thoughts and nuance, I thought I would try expressing them in a format that allowed more room for expression. This is a long post, but there is a TLDR at the very end. Also content warning for anyone sensitive to mentions of transphobia.

I think the way that the BBC has gone about joining #mastodon is fascinating. Instead of simply creating an account on one of the bigger instances, they created their own instance to host their own employees and journalists. This is an incredibly clever use of the fediverse, since not only do you have a means of allowing several members to represent your organization, you have a built in means of authenticating these members as well. I'm hope other news organizations take notes from this approach going forward, as I believe this showcases the strengths mastodon provides over other microblogging services such as #twitter (or I guess x), #bluesky and #threads.

However, there are many who aren't excited to see the BBC establishing itself here.. After all the BBC has been becoming increasingly partisan in the way it presents news and highlights current events. From downplaying the effects of climate change throughout Europe to its boosting of JK Rowling and other transphobic voices throughout the past 3 years. I don't think any of these concerns should be downplayed, especially since BBC is an established brand that many people see as a mark of legitimacy. I don't think any organization, no matter how big should be free from criticism, even if they aren't the worst offenders of spreading harmful content such as Foxnews or Dailymail.

BBC joining fediverse is definitely a sign of growth for the fediverse, and I can understand both the excitement and the apprehension behind their presence. I'm of the mind that more journalists and news organizations should join the fediverse, as their continued presence on #X perpetuates the userbase there, and makes them feel they have to remain on such a hostile platform in order to keep up with current events, which are subject to censorship and misrepresentation there. On the otherhand, growth for the sake of growth is not a virtue onto itself, and I feel the quality of organizations, users, and communities we accept onto fediverse is more important than the speed and rate in which we grow. I think #Threads is the perfect example of how this can go wrong. Nearly every major brand, organization, and celebrity jumped to Threads, only for their voices to overpower the voices of the actual community, which lead to threads feeling souless and corporate. I would also hate for Mastodon to have it's own version of libsoftiktok or other organizations that wish to do harm to marginalized people, as many marginalized people have taken to fediverse as a place of sanctuary. At the end of the day, it's the users that make the site what it is. Twitter and Reddit may be the bigger site, but the main reason I use Mastodon, #kbin and #lemmy is because of the better company of users.

TLDR: A lot of mixed feelings with BBC's joining. The way in which they are approaching fediverse is hella cool. None of it justifies or forgives their attitudes towards the trans community or their downplaying of the climate crisis. More journalists should join mastodon. Growth should not come at the cost of Mastodon's soul.