There Are Now Two Internets
Derek re frames the dark web versus light web divide. The so-called dark web is the open, uncensored internet. The so-called good web is the KYC, controlled, censored one. The internet is splitting into two directions and Nostr is the alternative path.
This is a week when two landmark juries ruled against Meta and YouTube, and Heather Larson and Derek Ross have plenty to say about it. This episode covers the deletion of the internet archive, the Meta lawsuits, algorithmic force-feeding, TikTok's KYC hoops, Derek's bots, Sora shutting down, AI in creative industries, and what Nostr offers as an alternative to the Big Tech™-controlled web.
A New Mexico jury found Meta liable for endangering children and ordered $375 million in civil penalties. The next day, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable for negligent platform design, awarding $3 million to a 20-year-old plaintiff. With 1,600 more lawsuits pending, legal precedent is now set. The likely industry response: mandatory age verification, which means more KYC for everyone.
Journalist Taylor Lorenz documented the ongoing erasure of the digital archive, with hundreds of videos deleted from YouTube at government request. The Vine archive, over 300,000 videos, is what gave birth to the diVine app on Nostr. Nostr content is cryptographically signed and replicated across thousands of relays worldwide. It is virtually impossible to erase. No shareholders, no government compliance window, no single point of failure.
Twitter force-fed Heather notifications about [REDACTED] drama based on her demographic profile, not her interests. Gary Vee's point that social media has become “interest media” comes up: the algorithm killed the social part. On Nostr, users own their interest graph. Apps like Ditto let users fully customize feeds. A top-eight feature inspired by MySpace may be in the works…
Nostr is not trying to beat Meta or Spotify. It is an open parallel internet where content cannot be deleted, mental health is not a business model, and no one answers to shareholders.
Find Soapbox Sessions on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and podcasting 2.0 apps like Fountain where you can send a boost.
Chapters
00:00 Episode 30
01:20 The Internet Archive Is Being Deleted
04:34 How Nostr Fixes Censorship
06:33 Dark Web vs Light Web
07:37 Twitter Force-Feeds and Self-Censorship
12:22 Meta Lawsuits: Two Verdicts in 24 Hours
17:25 Shareholders, VC Money, and Open Protocols
23:37 TikTok Hoops and Age Verification
31:09 Derek's Bots
33:55 Sora Is Shutting Down
36:54 AI Actors and Likeness Licensing
41:01 AI Goes Mainstream
46:28 Interest Media vs Social Media (Gary Vee)
48:19 Ditto and the Customizable Feed
52:21 The Top 8 Comes to Ditto
55:19 Blue Check Pay-for-Play
59:03 Closing: Building a Parallel Internet
Links
Ditto.pub (for everyone)
Agora.spot (for activists)
Shakespeare.diy (for vibe coders)
https://divine.video/
Taylor Lorenz / User Mag Power User podcast: https://www.usermag.co/archive
Jacob Ward / The RIP Current on the Meta verdict: https://www.theripcurrent.com/p/breaking-meta-loses-in-court-here
Meta New Mexico verdict: https://nmdoj.gov/press-release/new-mexico-department-of-justice-wins-landmark-verdict-against-meta/
Meta and YouTube LA verdict: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/verdict-reached-landmark-social-media-addiction-trial-rcna263421
Divine (Vine archive on Nostr): https://divine.video
Ditto by Soapbox: https://soapbox.pub/ditto/
ZapStream (Nostr live streaming): https://zap.stream
Fountain (podcasting 2.0): https://fountain.fm
OpenAI Sora shutdown: https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/openais-sora-was-the-creepiest-app-on-your-phone-now-its-shutting-down/
