# Decentralizing Social Media **URL:** **By** Aaron Ross Powell, Bill Ottman, Paul Matzko **Published:** April 30, 2020 --- Why doesn’t Facebook pay it’s users for their incredibly valuable data? Minds.com does do just that, explains CEO Bill Ottman. Complaints about the control that social media companies exercise over their platforms has risen over the past couple of years. Some users complain that platforms like Facebook and Twitter should remove more offensive content; others complain that they remove too much, resulting in censorship of politically unpopular views. There is an alternative to this kludgy, top-down model of content moderation. [Minds.com](http://minds.com/) is a more decentralized social network with a First Amendment standard for moderation that allows users to appeal bans to a jury of their digital peers. Minds also has a different revenue model from the big platforms, allowing users to boost posts with proprietary cryptocurrency payments. Our interview with Bill Ottman, founder and CEO of Minds, is a reminder that the future of the internet could look very different from the present. What is the most successful social network? Who is innovating in the social media space? Why should you switch social media platforms? How does social media giants come between you and your audience? ## Further Reading: [How Radical Transparency Cures Web Censorship and Surveillance](https://quillette.com/2019/02/08/how-radical-transparency-cures-web-censorship-and-surveillance/), written by Bill Ottman [Minds Is the Anti-Facebook That Pays You for Your Time](https://www.wired.com/story/minds-anti-facebook/), written by Louise Matsakis [Minds: The Latest Social Network That Is Changing the Game](https://medium.com/better-marketing/forget-about-tiktok-minds-are-the-new-trend-34d3039f524), written by Allegue Wessim ## Related Content: [What Made the Internet Possible](https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/building-tomorrow/what-made-the-internet-possible), Building Tomorrow Podcast [Free Speech Online: Unfriended](https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/building-tomorrow/free-speech-online-unfriended), Building Tomorrow Podcast [Social Media’s Moral Panic (with Milton Mueller)](https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/social-medias-moral-panic), Free Thoughts Podcast