Canadian developer Daniel Supernault is taking on tech giant Meta by expanding the fediverse, an open social web powered by the ActivityPub protocol. This protocol is also used by Mastodon, a prominent alternative to X. Supernault's federated apps are rapidly gaining traction, with his server becoming the second-largest in the fediverse, trailing only behind Mastodon.social, as reported by network statistics from FediDB. To further enhance development and support for his burgeoning social communities, Supernault has launched a Kickstarter campaign with a fundraising goal of $1 million.
The Kickstarter campaign seeks to hire a small team to expedite the development of Supernault's open social web projects. As of now, the campaign has already amassed $58,383. The funds are intended to bolster storage, content delivery networks (CDNs), and computational power, essential for accommodating the growing number of users. Supernault envisions his collection of apps reaching an impressive milestone—a network comprising a billion users, making them the first in the fediverse to achieve such reach.
Among the apps spearheaded by Supernault is Pixelfed, which has been operational for several years and recently introduced the 1.0 version of its mobile app earlier this month. Loops, another of Supernault's creations, is currently undergoing alpha testing through Apple's TestFlight platform. Meanwhile, Sup, a third app in development, is described as "coming soon" on its Instagram page. In addition to these applications, the campaign will finance a blogging app intended as an alternative to platforms like Tumblr and LiveJournal in the future.
Supernault's ambitions extend beyond app development. He intends to incorporate end-to-end encryption (E2E) into the fediverse as part of his broader mission. Furthermore, should the Kickstarter campaign succeed, he plans to register the Pixelfed Foundation as a not-for-profit organization. This would enable him to devote more time and resources to advancing the apps and enhancing fediverse infrastructure. Additionally, it would allow for expanded moderation, security, privacy, and safety initiatives.
Supernault's efforts reflect a commitment to transforming the digital landscape by emphasizing user empowerment and privacy. His vision for an open social web aligns with the principles of decentralization and community-driven governance. By challenging Meta's dominant position in the social media realm, Supernault aims to offer viable alternatives that prioritize user control and data protection.
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