Socialist Media Platforms: Part I – The Elevator Pitch
What if we stopped calling them “social media”?
Because whatever they once were, today’s platforms isolate more than they connect. They feed outrage, reward performance, flatten dialogue, and turn our most human capacities—curiosity, empathy, belonging—into revenue streams.
But here’s the thing: the problem isn’t just what these platforms do. It’s what they’re for.
They’re designed to extract attention, to harvest data, to maximize engagement—not to help us understand one another, not to help us coordinate, and definitely not to help us build a shared world.
That’s where socialist media platforms come in.
We’re not talking about just replacing one billionaire’s app with another—this time open-source, or nonprofit. We’re talking about a complete rethinking of what media platforms are for.
Socialist media platforms are designed not to exploit the social, but to nurture it.
They don’t monetize parasociality—they slow it down, open it up, turn it toward mutual recognition.
They don’t chase virality—they build trust, rhythm, and shared deliberation.
They’re not about performance—they’re about participation.
Not clicks—commitments.
Not followers—fellows.
They’re built on the idea that meaning is made together, that interpretation is a social act, and that we become more capable—more free—when we learn how to listen, build, and decide together.
Socialist media platforms aren’t just a better version of what we have. They’re infrastructure for the world we don’t have yet—the one we need if we’re going to survive this century with dignity.
They begin online, sure. But they point outward: toward co-ops and collectives, toward shared kitchens and codebases, toward unions of labor and care and meaning.
Because in the end, they’re not just media platforms.
They’re social scaffolds.
Places to rehearse the future, and then bring it into being.
👉 So… want to help build one? Join the conversation!