DeSo Friend.tech landed itself in some hot water over threats to the userbase to not use competitor apps.
Friend.tech, a decentralized social media (DeSo) app, received criticism for warning its user base not to use forks and copies of the app or they will drop out of the points program and lose their existing points.
In a tweet on August 29th, Friend.tech stated that copycats of the app will likely emerge in the future, but the users who choose to move to these alternatives will be penalized. The users will still be “able to use the app normally”, but they will opt out of gaining points.
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Points will be used for the yet-undisclosed purpose once the beta period is over, but currently, users can earn them through their activity or via airdrops that happen every Friday. According to the app itself, a total of 100m points will be distributed over six months.
The message received plenty of criticism from the crypto community, with the main argument being that this is the antithesis of decentralization.
The backlash prompted an apology from Racer, a Friend.tech founder. He explained that the original tweet was driven by fear and uncertainty over the future of the app. He acknowledged the poor choice of words and backtracked the prohibition to use other similar apps.
It was the opposite of the culture of the people in crypto whom I spend every day online with and who have only ever accepted me with open arms and support.
Some speculate that while Friend.tech didn't name anyone, the warning may have been prompted by SocialFi Shares, which will launch the final round of beta at the end of the month.
The original warning to penalize users and the subsequent apology comes on the heels of dropping Friend.tech metrics. As of August 28th, transactions on the app dropped by about 90% from the all-time high on August 21st.
