Has anyone ever considered the potential creation of a Labeler similar to Andrew Lisowski's Bluesky Politician Labeler, but for the Mastodon platform?
This tool, which has been developed for Bluesky, provides valuable transparency by listing top contributors to US politicians.
The Bluesky Politician Labeler
(https://github.com/hipstersmoothie/us-gov-contributions-labeler)
is an innovative Open-Source feature that enhances political discourse on social media.
It automatically labels posts from US politicians with information about their top financial contributors, offering users immediate context about the potential influences on these public figures.
Key benefits of implementing a similar feature on Mastodon could include:
- Increased transparency: Users would have easy access to information about political funding sources.
- Enhanced political discourse: This feature could lead to more informed discussions about politics and campaign finance.
- User empowerment: Mastodon users would be better equipped to critically evaluate political content.
- Platform differentiation: This unique feature could set Mastodon apart from other social media platforms.
It could be designed to respect Mastodon's federated nature, possibly allowing instance administrators to opt-in or customize the feature for their communities.
Given Mastodon's focus on user privacy and data control, any implementation would need to be carefully considered to ensure it aligns with these core values.
The feature could potentially be developed as an optional plugin that users or instance administrators could choose to enable.
I personally believe that something like this could SIGNIFICANTLY enhance the political discourse on Mastodon while providing valuable transparency to users.
It would be an innovative addition that aligns with Mastodon's ethos of empowering users and fostering meaningful conversations.
I would consider doing something like this, but, unfortunately, I personally lack the time, energy, and technical knowledge.
https://bsky.app/profile/hipstersmoothie.com/post/3lbl2lgnq7c2f
https://bsky.app/profile/us-gov-funding.bsky.social/lists/3lbgx3lqlwk2d
https://bsky.app/profile/hipstersmoothie.com/post/3lbl2lgnq7c2f
Plus it's open source, and Andrew has explicitly stated that he doesn't mind if other people steal the idea and use it.