Hi everyone! This question has been sitting in the back of my head for some time, and I think asking like-minded people would be of great help.

We are all on our individual journeys of trying to be as ethical as possible with the things we consume and advocate for. And, specifically talking about digital services, some choices between products seems obvious, like ditching Gmail for Tuta or Proton, or Google Authenticator for Aegis or Ente Auth.

But there are Big Tech titans out there without a clear alternative, like YouTube and Twitch. The thing these two apps have in common is that… their alternatives aren’t great.

Both Odysee and Kick have their own controversies, but they both fall in the same category: Shitty people running the business, and the shitty people they allow to have on the platform.

So my question is… Which one would you choose? The Big Tech giant, or the smaller, shittier competitor? I know the most obvious answer is ‘neither’, but if you had to choose, which one would be the most ethical? Because, a part of my brain tells me that the smaller option is better, but another tells me that if given the chance (numbers), Odysee and Kick would gladly become as awful as Google or Amazon, so in a way I feel like my presence in the smaller is somehow more inpactful than my presence in the already massive sea of Google/Amazon traffic.

If it matters, this is all from the perspective of both a content creator and a viewer, so all answers will be relevant

What do you think?

  • Float@startrek.websiteEnglish
    2·
    2 天前

    Kick is propped up by Stake. I see Amazon/Twitch as the lesser of two evils, so I would go with them. Neither are very small though. It’s easy to think of Twitch as the big guy but Kick had its name on an F1 team last year.

    Odysee is a nice platform but YouTube has that critical mass of content that simply cannot be answered at this point.

    • xpey@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      1·
      2 天前

      I don’t really know much about Stake, what is it that makes them worse than amazon in your opinion?

      • Float@startrek.websiteEnglish
        1·
        2 天前

        Stake is a pretty vile and predatory gambling corporation. They own the worlds biggest online casino. Amazon ain’t exactly great but they are a more legitimate business than a scammy crypto casino.

        • xpey@piefed.socialOPEnglish
          1·
          2 天前

          But like, what exactly is it that makes them “vile”? Maybe we have different priorities / morals but at face value, I think Amazon’s support of fascist tools (AI, surveillance, trump support etc), workers exploitation, overconsumer friendly nature and a complete disregard for our planet is far, far worse than owning the biggest online casino that works with crypto.

          Also I think Amazon is much more of a global powerhouse than Stake, so its shittiness is much more impactful worldwide.

          • Float@startrek.websiteEnglish
            2·
            2 天前

            Guess it depends on how you view it. Stake advertises to minors, most of its games are crooked even for casino standards, they advertise through porn, they exploit workers as well, and they provide nothing of value back. Most of their operation is via legal loopholes and there is a reason countries are trying to chase them out. Gambling is purely a money sink with no benefits to the economy.

            Can’t really defend Amazon for all the reasons you listed, they are both awful, so my choice would almost purely be based on the platform itself. Kick is a lot less respectable of a platform to me, Twitch has had a long time to develop and mature, so I would pick Twitch.

  • ryan_@piefed.socialEnglish
    4·
    1 个月前

    I had looked both Odyssee and Kick when I first heard about them. To my eyes, they seemed like YouTube and Twitch without as many guardrails, but in a bad way.

    Sorry, it doesn’t answer your question but I ended up subscribing to Nebula and I don’t regret it. I don’t use twitch and only use the FreeTube client for remaining content that is only on YouTube.

    • xpey@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      1·
      1 个月前

      Yeah, Odysee and Kick both pride themselves in their looser moderation, which resulted in both platforms being used for extreme right wing propaganda. Maybe the closed bubbled propaganda is a bit more ethical than the more quantifiable damage Google and Amazon are doing in a worldwide scale, but it still feels shitty to support.