Theory: the only reason Meta cares about the fediverse / ActivityPub is so that threads isn't labeled a "gatekeeper" under the EU's new "Digital Markets Act"
Theory: the only reason Meta cares about the fediverse / ActivityPub is so that threads isn't labeled a "gatekeeper" under the EU's new "Digital Markets Act"
Links to source articles below.
Yesterday 30 million users signed up for threads, which is already more than active users in the fediverse.
Furthermore, it seems that Meta hasn't launched threads in the EU due to uncertainty regarding the Digital Markets Act. It is entirely possible that their intent to federate with other Activitypub instances is entirely a cheap way to avoid being labeled a gatekeeper and avoid other regulatory requirements or restrictions.
It's future use of ActivityPub to get better publicity or scrape a bit more data might be an added benefit but not it's true purpose.
We'll see if launch in the EU goes hand in hand with them turning on Federation. I suspect that ActivityPub and the Fediverse are merely an afterthought to them and a convenient way to avoid being impacted by certain regulations.
Edit: Found a brief overview of the DMA. Among other things they say:
"The DMA aims to ensure the interoperability of messaging services allowing users on services like WhatsApp to send messages to users on smaller services like Signal"
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_6423
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My be they see the idea of a federated internet a threat to their whole business plan, where they have no control. So I believe their plan is to undermine it somehow 👽