evil ... yet.

if op is really serious about fixing social networking he needs to figure out a way to operate it that wont enshittify.

ie, public good, not for profit, something like that.

as is hes already signaled he intends to enshittify it eventually ("premium features"..?) which to me is a non-starter.

the problem is that a successful network beyond a certain size like this needs funding. its unfortunate but this needs legal /compliance, moderation, even marketing...

those things aren't free, but you could imagine ways to pay for them. Id totally accept a small subscription fee for a network like this if paying that fee could guarantee privacy, and that the person hosting all my data would not be looking to squeeze every dime of value out of me as a user.

anything less than solving the funding problem and you are just saying you will become facebook (or get bought by them). no thanks.