It looks like Meta is blocking links to Pixelfeda decentralized photo sharing platform, on Facebook, according to both Bluesky user and 404 Media. Any post linked to “pixelfed.social” was removed, with Facebook’s “Community Standards on spam” being used as the justification.

When asked for comment, a Meta spokesperson said the removal of the posts was a mistake and that they would be restored.

Pixelfed runs on the ActivityPub protocol and is part of the wider “fediverse” of decentralized posting platforms. It works like Instagram in its ability to let you share, like, and comment on images, but because it’s in ActivityPub, your posts can be seen in other apps or ported to a completely different take photo sharing if you want. Meta is gradually adopting the ActivityPub features into Threads, making it possible to post on Threads and Mastodon at the same timefor example.

The timing of these removals is enough to make anyone suspicious. Recently announced by Meta quite dramatic changes how it plans to moderate speech on its platforms. The company decided to end the same third-party fact-checking program and change its Hateful Conduct policy last week. The company’s current relaxation standards allow for speech that is defined as hate under any normal circumstances, based on what Wired managed to dig.

It’s not unreasonable to imagine that users might consider jumping ship to an alternative like Pixelfed in response, and the platform did. share on Saturday that it is “seeing unprecedented levels of traffic on pixelfed.social.” It is also not unreasonable to imagine that the new right-leaning Meta will preemptively block its competitors, as X did with links to Mastodon and Substack.