Earlier this week internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom announced on Twitter his desire to create a new social network to replace the platform, along with fellow social media platform Facebook.
Dotcom, who rose to fame in Germany in the 1990s as an internet entrepreneur, said that instead he wanted to start a decentralized platform that governments could not control, calling the two channels “deep state conspirators”.
He also asked several high-profile internet figures to join him, including Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and the German hacker association Chaos Computer Club (CCC).
I would like to invite top security experts like @JulianAssange, @Snowden and members of the @ccc to join together in creating a secure social media platform that will replace the deep state conspirators Facebook & Twitter. After years of betrayal it’s time for something better.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) June 5, 2018
“All it takes is a real alternative with real privacy protection and zero censorship from a trusted source and Twitter will become the next MySpace, an online ghost town,” he said.
He asked his followers whether Twitter was “in bed with the deep state”. Nearly 20,000 people responded, with 89 per cent saying yes.
Dotcom is currently attempting to block his extradition to the US from New Zealand, following charges made against him for copyright infringement and fraud – allegations which he has consistently denied.
However not everyone agrees a new network would solve the issues Dotcom has.
“Do you trust Kim Dotcom, Julian Assange, et al more than those running Twitter, Facebook?”: cyber-security expert Prof Alan Woodward asked the BBC.
“All these networks go through growing pains and I suspect that Facebook and Twitter have learned a few lessons recently. Perhaps any new social network would simply have to learn in the same way.
“Maybe this is a case of better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”