"Around 2013 in Taiwan's context, when Facebook started to take over the digital ecosystem in Taiwan, many local independent bulletin boards that had been formed for sexual minorities were shut down because they had no income from advertisements, and people were pushed into mainstream platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Meta, whatever, Twitter now X where sexual expression was usually reported or flagged."
"Those oppressions are even fiercer within the queer community itself, which is self-censoring in order to gain approval from mainstream society. Sharp intra-community exclusionary voices saying bisexual and trans people were not pure enough, or that talking openly about sex would harm our image, or that it was inappropriate to children, or it would invite harassment."
Shin Yang, a queer writer with legal and product management experience, founded Lezismore in 2015 as an independent, self-hosted community for sexual minorities in Taiwan. The platform operates on open-source software and implements privacy-first governance principles including minimal data collection, behavior-based accountability, rhythm governance, and strategic friction. Yang developed this alternative after witnessing the decline of local bulletin boards around 2013 when Facebook dominated Taiwan's digital ecosystem, forcing sexual minorities onto mainstream platforms where sexual expression faced censorship and reporting. Within queer communities themselves, self-censorship emerged as members internalized mainstream society's disapproval, creating exclusionary voices that rejected bisexual and transgender individuals.
#privacy-first-platform-design #lgbtq-community-building #open-source-technology #freedom-of-expression #alternative-governance-models
Read at Electronic Frontier Foundation
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