The Fediverse Welcomes Loops: A New Competitor to TikTok

The fediverse is gearing up for a new addition to the social media landscape with Loops, a platform designed to rival TikTok by enabling users to share short, looping videos. Created by Daniel Supernault, the developer behind Pixelfed, a federated alternative to Instagram, Loops aims to further expand the ecosystem of decentralized social networks.

 

Overview of Loops

Loops is in its early stages, currently open for signups. While it has yet to be fully open-sourced or integrated with ActivityPub—the protocol connecting federated apps like Mastodon and Pixelfed—these features are in development. This upcoming integration will boost interaction across the fediverse, home to over 11.6 million users and more than 1 million monthly active users.

 

Key Features

• User Data Privacy: Loops prioritizes privacy, with a firm stance against selling or sharing user data with third parties or using content to train AI models. Users retain full ownership of their content, allowing Loops only the necessary permissions to display it.
• Funding Model: Instead of venture capital, Loops plans to rely on user donations through platforms like Patreon and Open Collective. A development grant is also in the works to support its first year.
• Community Interaction: Users aged 13+ can follow, like, comment on, and share videos, with users from ActivityPub-compatible platforms like Mastodon and Pixelfed able to engage directly with Loops content.
• Moderation and Trust System: Videos from users with lower trust scores are moderated before publication, while trusted users can bypass this queue to prioritize quality content.
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Main Differences Between Loops and TikTok

1. Ownership and Data Privacy
Loops prioritizes user ownership and privacy, stating that it will not sell user data to third-party advertisers or use uploaded content for AI training. Users retain full ownership of their contributions, granting only permission for Loops to use their content. In contrast, TikTok has faced criticism for its data collection practices, including selling user data and using it to train algorithms. 

 

2. Funding Model
Loops is designed to be community-funded through donations via platforms like Patreon and Open Collective, along with a grant to support its first year of development. TikTok, on the other hand, is backed by significant venture capital and operates on an ad-revenue model. 

 

3. Integration with the Fediverse
Loops is built on the ActivityPub protocol, allowing it to integrate with other federated platforms like Mastodon and Pixelfed. This means users can interact across different platforms within the fediverse. TikTok operates as a standalone app without such interoperability. 

 

4. Moderation and Trust System
Loops employs a trust score system where videos from users with lower scores are held for moderation before publication. Trusted users can publish immediately. TikTok uses its algorithm to surface content but does not have a similar trust-based moderation system. 

 

5. Community Engagement
Loops encourages community feedback on its terms of service and privacy policies during its development phase, actively seeking input from potential users. TikTok has been criticized for its lack of transparency regarding user engagement and content moderation policies.

 

6. Content Format and Features
Both platforms focus on short videos, but Loops is specifically designed for looping content in a way that emphasizes user interaction across federated networks. TikTok offers a more extensive suite of editing tools, effects, and trends that are driven by its algorithmic recommendations. 

 

7. Age Restrictions
Loops is aimed at users aged 13 and up, similar to TikTok; however, the emphasis on community-driven content may attract a different demographic that values privacy and ownership more than mainstream trends. In summary, while both Loops and TikTok focus on short video content, they diverge significantly in terms of user privacy, funding models, integration capabilities, moderation practices, community engagement, and overall approach to content creation.

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Future Developments

Signups are open, with app access to be released gradually. An Android APK will soon be available for sideloading, followed by an iOS app on Apple’s TestFlight. While a web interface is planned, it’s not an initial priority. Supernault is actively seeking community feedback on terms of service, privacy policies, and recruiting moderators to support content management.

 

Loops brings a privacy-centric, community-focused alternative to mainstream video platforms. As it continues to develop, Loops could become a major player in shaping decentralized social media’s future.