A project I’ve been working on for months really came together today. Mark Ruffalo, John Cusack, Rosie O’Donnell, & Alex Winter all joined livestream with Musk portrait artist. Shoutout to @tanyaocarroll.bsky.social @jordanuhl.com @robbennett.com, Kaliana, Connor,& many others for making this happen

After 5 days, 102 hours of live streaming, 19 guests & over 10,000 viewers, I've finished my portrait of Elon Musk. And I think I've captured the psychology of the man. #WeNeedToTalkAboutElon

"The one thing about fascists throughout history is they never survive. They can't fucking govern." - @markruffalo.bsky.social in conversation with @rosie.com, @alexwinter.com, @johncusack.bsky.social & @ianbrucestudio.bsky.social.

What a line up! @markruffalo.bsky.social on fire 🔥 talking about the failure of those with money to take back control of critical infrastructure like social media. So powerful to see cultural figures organizing and fighting back in this way. @johncusack.bsky.social, @rosie.com and @alexwinter.com.

I would like to suggest a permanent feed of @rudyfraser.com and @robin.berjon.com talking as a antidote to despair in these times. I always leave any convo with them feeling that a new paradigm for tech & social media is not just possible, it is inevitable. www.youtube.com/live/uogmc-c...

Happening now! @rudyfraser.com & @robin.berjon.com are joining @ianbrucestudio.bsky.social on his #IanPaintsElon livestream to support #FreeOurFeeds! Join the stream at IanPaintsElon.com & ask about Free Our Feeds, the AT Protocol, and what’s the solution to billionaire control of social media!

"It pains me when people say they are over social media... But you're not. You are over ad based services that are optimised to keep your attention and mindlessly scrolling" says @rudyfraser.com who is bringing fun & social back to the web w/ @blacksky.app www.youtube.com/live/uogmc-c...

🪩🔥LIVE🚨🕺 today at 4pm CEST / 10am EST / 3pm BST: @rudyfraser.com and I join @ianbrucestudio.bsky.social‬, who spent a week painting a psychological portrait of Muskolini (or "Il Douche" as the Italians say). We'll talk future of social + fundraise for @freeourfeeds.com. Tune in: IanPaintsElon.com!

VERY exciting update! Another anonymous donor just offered to match the next $50,000 in donations to @freeourfeeds.com! So now you can have your name painted into the portraits I'm creating AND your donation goes even further! Chip in if you can here: IanPaintsElon.com

WOW! An anonymous institutional donor just donated $100,000 to support @freeourfeeds.com! Amazing. Join the livestream today for great conversations with Shoshana Zuboff, Jayde Adams and @cultexpert.freedomofmind.com! IanPaintsElon.com

This event starts in 10 minutes! There's still time to join and watch these three great tech solution providers talk about their products!

"Politics is downstream from culture...I find the whole podcasting game so interesting because that's a medium being dominated by right-wing voices" - @carolecadwalla.bsky.social Go to IanPaintsElon.com for more w/ Shoshana Zuboff, @cultexpert.freedomofmind.com and Jayde Adams from 6pm BST today.

I just finished the first of three portraits of Elon Musk. What would he say about it? IanPaintsElon.com

"Musk is a very clever guy, unfortunately suffers from the delusion that a lot of people who end up at the top of the pile suffer. That they are self made, had nothing to do with anyone else or the situation they were in." -Brian Eno

So inspiring listening to Brian Eno chat to @ianbrucestudio.bsky.social as he paints Elon Musk. If his music studio was a (non religious) Church, I would be there every Sunday! Music, art, chips, community...what a hopeful conversation. Up next John Ronson at 7pm BST/2pm EST at IanPaintsElon.com

This is a fascinating livestream in aid of @freeourfeeds.com if you've got a few minutes to spare right now…

Brian Eno is LIVE NOW! www.youtube.com/live/uogmc-c...

Hey Bluesky, I'm only telling you this, not those bastards over at X. There’s a portrait of Elon Musk being painted on a livestream by the artist @ianbrucestudio.bsky.social, and a bunch of people including Brian Eno are joining him live. I’ll be there 2pm EST/7pm BST for 45mins. IanPaintsElon.com

“In Elon’s case… he's more of...a vulture capitalist mind than a technology mind.” - @alexwinter.com Livestream continues today at 4pm BST with Brian Eno, Jon Ronson and more! Join us at IanPaintsElon.com

Alex and Ian are live now! Can you join? The only way we'll rid our social networks of billionaire control is if we build new ones ourselves. Tune in to this conversation to hear how we do that... www.youtube.com/watch?v=uogm...

🔥 @kuminaidoo "We survived Apartheid, we know how to dismantle oppressive systems. We recognise their playbook because we wrote the resistance manual against it. So what I say to people in this moment of history, is pessimism is a luxury we cannot afford"

Portrait artist @ianbrucestudio.bsky.social is doing a 6 day marathon livestream painting a portrait of Elon Musk. Check it out. www.youtube.com/live/uogmc-c... #TeslaTakedown #NoKings

So, Internet, we really do need to talk about Elon. How did we get to a place where a single billionaire with daddy issues could take over and control our global public square? I picked up my paintbrush as a means to answer that question.

I'll be chatting with @ianbrucestudio.bsky.social and @robin.berjon.com next Friday as a part of Ian's marathon, week-long livestream and paint session (looking to inject some hope into the discourse) #WeNeedToTalkAboutElon

I’m doing something very exciting next week - delving into the psychology of the world’s richest man while talking to some incredible guests. I’ll be live from 3pm UK time on Monday at IanPaintsElon.com #WeNeedToTalkAboutElon #FreeOurFeeds

We are delighted to welcome @ivansigal.bsky.social as FOF’s Interim Director! Ivan was the E.D. of Global Voices for 16 years, building it into one of the most impactful organizations globally at the intersection of media, information and technology. free-our-feeds.ghost.io/free-our-fee...

We're excited to support the #IndieSky Working Group to support coordinating the working group and fund initial R&D on infrastructure software, setup, and tooling! Read more here:

Who knew that it would be so fun talking about the depressing state of tech + politics in the UK right now! Thanks @alixdunn.com, this was a brilliant evening and fascinating (+ genuinely v fun!) convo Ps. pls come to town more often so the London tech justice scene has more excuses to get together

This Wednesday ⏰ Meta has admitted that users have the right opt-out of stalker ads. Now what for our data rights? Join our webinar to explore the impact of @tanyaocarroll.bsky.social's case against Meta. 🗓️ Wed 16 April 🕕 6–7.30pm BST 📍 Zoom Register Now ➡️ www.openrightsgroup.org/events/webin...

As well as being able to support @ahoy.eu with funding, we're organizing an #IndieSky discussion on the day after the conference talks. Thank you to @skorfmann.com for hosting us! After you buy your Ahoy tickets, please let us know you're joining us for Friday group discussions lu.ma/398odzkj

Meta has admitted that users have the right opt-out of stalker ads. Now what for our data rights? Join our webinar to explore the impact of @tanyaocarroll.bsky.social's case against Meta. 🗓️ Wed 16 April 🕕 6–7.30pm BST 📍 Zoom Register Now ➡️ www.openrightsgroup.org/events/webin... #SrtopStalkerAds

NEW: Tool launched to opt-out of stalker ads on Meta. Last week saw a big win for data rights! Meta settled @tanyaocarroll.bsky.social's case and agreed to stop using her data for targeted advertising. Now it's your turn 🫵 Use our tool to #StopStalkerAds ⬇️ action.openrightsgroup.org/meta-opt-out

Grateful to have the support of former UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve who has written an excellent op-ed on what my case means for others in the UK - let's take back control of our private lives from Big Tech! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Case closed! 🤩💥🚀. In settling my case, Meta has agreed to stop processing my personal data for direct marketing purposes. In non-legalese, that means I will no longer be shown surveillance-ads on Facebook. www.thetimes.com/article/ae70...

Join us this Sunday in Paris to lay a concrete roadmap for a positive future for social media. Followed by a meet-up and drinks! 🍷

It is time to close my Twitter account for good. The good news is that if you are considering the same, it is super quick & easy to use the #HelloQuitX app to easily log your Twitter followers/those you used to follow so you can reconnect them on #BlueSky & #Mastodon: app.helloquitx.com

New podcast! Two segments! • First, Nikki Gladstone, director of Rightscon at Access Now, on what to expect at RightsCon25 in Taipei. • Second, Robin Berjon and Sean McDonald on Free Our Feeds, which aims to make AT Protocol (on which Bluesky is built) resistant to billionaire capture.

YES We need to actively support and fund what we want to see in the tech infrastructure all the way up and down the stack Now is a moment of horror but also of emerging. What should people support? For my part: @signal.org @freeourfeeds.com What else?

Didn’t Trump just sign an Executive Order against censorship? Meta is censoring democratic party content, even in Europe. This is my phone while I’m sitting in the plenary discussion about the DSA in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Right now, the 170 million+ Americans who use TikTok see this. It's time to create a better, billionaire-proof and democratized social media. Visit FreeOurFeeds.com to take action.

We're just shy of the $50,000 mark! Can you chip in and help support our work to #FreeOurFeeds from billionaire control? Learn more and donate here: FreeOurFeeds.com

Our New Year's Resolution is to continue challenging Big Tech's power and abuses. We hope you will join us in that fight. Here's a little about what we have been up to with 120+ organisations and concerned citizens in 2024 💪 #PvBT #BigTech #DigitalRevolution

This is a monumental day for the future of the open web, though it might not be obvious for a while. Mastodon matures its governance model with a great, solid non-profit blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/01/the-... and a coalition of independents push to open up Bluesky's AT Protocol: freeourfeeds.com

Meanwhile @therestispolitics.bsky.social talk a lot about the decimation of news & especially local papers. Any publisher will tell you that Google is behind the news deserts. The Competition & Markets authority will tell you the same. Rory and Alastair need to wake up on this one...

#FreeOurFeeds covered by @willoremus.com: "The idea behind 'Free our Feeds' is to turn the concept of a decentralized network into reality." www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

@freeourfeeds.com will build a new, independent foundation to support Bluesky’s underlying technology to be on a pathway to become an open and healthy social media ecosystem that cannot be controlled by any single company or billionaire. #FreeOurFeeds freeourfeeds.com

So excited to see @swf endorse further decentralization of the AT protocol! The open social web is bigger and better if we build bridges, not walls. https://socialwebfoundation.org/2025/01/13/free-our-feeds-and-algorithmic-pluralism/

When the Free Our Feeds infrastructure is in place, it will theoretically be easy to spin up an ATProto-powered Facebook or Instagram rival. @markruffalo.bsky.social is involved, as are Jimmy Wales, Mozilla Foundation's @nabiha.bsky.social, and Facebook investor-turned-foe @moonalice.com.