Holy crap, google is apparently taking down all/most fediverse apps from google play on the grounds that that some servers in the fediverse engage in hate speech. At least three apps I know of anyway and I'd imagine the others will follow soon under the exact same reasoning.} Seems to be the case with Husky, Fedilab, and "subway" tooter.

this is a scary precedent if google play is going to ban any apps that can in any way be used to access content with hate speech. So what about a forum client, do they take that down just because there is a forum somewhere on the internet posting hate speech?

This is particularly worrisome because for most people Google Play is the only way they understand to install apps at all.

Picture attached of one of the notices received by fedilab.

https://toot.fedilab.app/@fedilab/104761140268193772

https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/104763960269049818

@fedilab @tateisu #fediverse #mastoadmin #freespeech #censorship

@freemo this happened to Clover, an imageboard client, because it supported access to 4chan - a site that Google considered unpalatable.

At the time, it was mostly cheered by a lot of the same people as use mastodon. It's unfortunate the precedent has come full circle.

@kline funny how they dont apply that same logic to their own apps. If they were to truly be fair they would have to take down Chrome from play store on the grounds that it can be used to access 4chan.

@freemo to be fair, I suspect this could be a time of reckoning for the fediverse. The willingness of people to draw instant parallels between software ("FOR ANY PURPOSE") and the beliefs and moral values of the users.

In the past, large swathes of the fediverse have written off pleroma and pleroma users as undesirable, regardless of whether that was true or not, because of a small element who were.

Google has now decided that fediverse apps, it seems, are likewise undesirable because of a small number of non-representative users. First we have sown, now we reap.

@kline @freemo
This shit is pretty terrifying.

@izarella Yup it is, and people wonder why I'm so pro free speech, this right here is a prime example! The ironic thing is I have received a lot of hate and blocks from voicing my pro free speech stance, the very stance that would oppose this sort of injustice that effects them in the first place.

@freemo
Lol everyone has me blocked already I think