Hi All! I'm BCCing NDP names from a progress tracker at Elbows Up Digital, with my own hand crafted appeal toward digital sovereignty in your online presence. That list, should you wish to see it, it at https://elbowsupdigital.ca/politician-tracker/?province=SK . So again, hi! You might know me. I volunteered during the provincial and federal elections last year, and now annoy April regularly at executive meetings (hi April!). I'm a loudmouth and advocate and fired up union guy watching in bemused horror as the world around us does this weird slow march towards the darkest timeline. I want to do something about that, and I want each of you to consider taking the first steps along with me. It's no secret that a lot of the discord we face is thanks to the capture of our attention and diversion of our energy by social media. We spend a lot trying to get a message out upstream against a constant flow of disinformation and propaganda, controlled by hostile foreign powers. In the time since the election we've seen the major players sucking up to Trump and going full mask-off in their embrace of the authoritarian right. It's no longer just anonymous troll farms making the experience horrible, it's the platforms themselves actively working against you. These platforms can't be trusted, and shouldn't be entertained.

While there's been some argument to stick around on places like Facebook and Twitter because "that's where people are", it's becoming more and more obvious that the people you cater to on those platforms are by and large not local, and in a lot of cases not even real. There's a movement for Canadians to move their online presence to the Fediverse where there's no thumb on the scale tweaking algorithms to influence elections, just real people on hyper local and interconnected platforms. Every news story that comes by about major companies bowing to the US Regime brings a new wave of users, and although by-the-numbers the Fediverse will never be as big as these platforms, it is by design very much more real.

So, what am I asking you to do? (it's okay to skip to here, I bolded it for you) Currently most of your messaging gets blasted out on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For the increasing number of people who don't have an account on these American owned and run platforms, these posts may as well be invisible. Consider at the very least cross posting to open alternatives. For the social media savvy, try making a primary online home on the Fediverse to reconnect with and engage Canadians. I personally recommend mstdn.ca as a solid, lively Mastodon instance. In the long run, should NDP form government, I'd love to see some dedication toward digital sovereignty for our province. Create a provincial or even municipal level social networks, hosted and administered by people who live and work in this province. Encourage companies  to bring their data home, keep it secure where it won't be shlorped up by big tech at the behest of a regime that's been openly talking about invading us. But that's long run thinking. For now, let's just take that first step!