Tŵt Blog

At Tŵt Cymru, our mission is to provide a safe, welcoming, and inclusive space for Wales and the Welsh at home and abroad, along with the wider community of Welsh learners and people with ties to Cymru. Central to this mission is fostering a culture of civil discourse, where users can connect and express themselves without fear of harassment, hate, or harm. This is a commitment we take seriously, to ensure the safety and well-being of our community.

Recently, Meta Platforms announced significant changes to its policies and governance, explicitly allowing forms of speech that were previously deemed unacceptable due to their incivility or potential for harm. While we respect each platform’s right to define its own policies, these changes stand in direct opposition to Tŵt Cymru’s values. Specifically, the decision to tolerate previously prohibited speech creates an environment that risks amplifying harm, undermining trust, and marginalising already underserved communities.

Since Threads signalled their desire to federate, we have treated them like any other domain with which we connect. The recent changes in policy, governance, and stated approach by Meta’s leadership (in effect, the threads.net server admin) means this domain now represents a space which explicitly allows harm.

After thorough review, we have decided to defederate from the Meta Fediverse service threads.net on January 19th, 2025. This means users on Tŵt Cymru will no longer see or interact with threads.net content or accounts. If you prefer for your account to be hosted by a service that may remain connected to threads.net we recommend reviewing the larger servers at https://fedidb.org/network and enquiring as to their connectivity with threads.net, and migrating your account before the date above. If you need help migrating, please email help@toot.wales

Defederation will sever any existing connections; we are aware of 146 accounts that follow one or more threads.net accounts, and two threads.net accounts that follow one or more toot.wales account. Our server is aware of 3,838 accounts on threads.net, these will no longer be visible or searchable. The most-followed accounts are POTUS (soon to be managed by new staff), Meta employees, and Barack Obama.

Severing human connections is tough choice to make – and we do not make this decision lightly – but our decision is driven by our unwavering commitment to:

• Protecting Community Well-being: We prioritise the safety and inclusion of all users, especially those from marginalised groups who are disproportionately impacted by harmful speech.
• Preserving Civil Discourse: Allowing hateful speech and conduct erodes the quality of discussions and undermines efforts to build constructive and respectful dialogue.
• Aligning with Our Mission: Our federation policy explicitly requires partnerships with servers that share our core principles of community safety, mutual respect, and equitable engagement.

We believe that platforms have a responsibility to foster environments where users feel safe and valued. As threads.net moves in a direction incompatible with these principles, we are taking this step to ensure our space remains true to its mission. As part of this decision, we are amending our Federation Policy to include a new guideline as follows:

A third-party server whose publicly stated policies or principles significantly conflict with the mission and values of Tŵt Cymru may be subject to limitation or suspension.

Thank you for your understanding and ongoing support as we continue to prioritise the safety and well-being of our community.

A note from Jaz, founder of Tŵt Cymru

I want an open web, and I want safety. These two things stand in diametric opposition to each other, and managing any community is hard, really hard. By creating a space, I have a duty of care to the people in that space.

I am incredibly proud and grateful to have the help of a diverse, thoughtful, highly engaged moderation team. They have debated this issue, teased out all sides of several arguments, and it is the team as a whole that has come to this decision. This level of commitment and love gives the Fediverse its strength. In the most recent Fediverse moderator survey, the data shows one moderator for every 1,200 active accounts. No other social media service has this level of community care.

I firmly believe in localised governance; distributed and decentralised communities, and stand by the notion that anyone is free to associate, or to not associate, with whomever they please. I do not believe there is or should be a “global town square”, and the Fediverse reflects this with its 30,0000 communities, none of which connect to 100% of the network. This is a good thing.

When I look at the map I made of community- and language-focussed servers, I am delighted to see communities all around the world taking control of their governance and preserving their cultural norms.

As we continue to see a shift to the right in national governments and politics, I hope we and others can continue to offer an online alternative that is not dominated by a single country's ideals or politics. There are millions of lovely people using threads.net today, I am saddened to close the door to them. I hope they find joy in their connections on threads.net or wherever they may go next.

If you are reading this and you enjoy the social networking afforded to you by the Fediverse, tell your friends. Be the change you want to see in the world.