posted in Technology

Yope raises $12.3M to build a private social network without algorithms or ads

Focused on private groups of friends and family, Yope has raised $12.3 million in seed funding from investors betting that the future of social networking lies in small, private communities powered by messaging, photo sharing, and, blergh, AI features designed to strengthen real-world relationships. It sounds kinda like old-school Facebook meets the fediverse, but with AI.

techcrunch.com/2026/07/22/yope-raises-12-3m-to-build-a-private-social-network-without-algorithms-or-ads/

Replying to @⁨artifex@piefed.social⁩

the fediverse works because its not trying to make money. if this company raised money already that means people believe they will see a return. so how does it make money?

i cant read the article because i guess techcrinch has i trusive ads and doesnt like my ad blocker

Edited ⁨⁨Jul⁩ ⁨22⁩, ⁨2026⁩, ⁨20:37⁩⁩en

Replying to @⁨homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world⁩

Well, It’ll work for the founder(s) who will probably sell the company at the height of the platform’s popularity for stupid amounts of money.

The new owners (or the OG VC investors) will want a return on their investment though, of course, and the platform will rapidly enshitify pushing out the userbase. Or maybe the users will just deal with it because of the network effect and all. Eitherway the founder(s) will have gotten rich off the sale so they don’t care anymore which is pretty much the only goal in founding a company at this stage of capitalism

Replying to @⁨artifex@piefed.social⁩

I use Adguard Home and my browser has uBlock Origin and I can read it just fine, but I suspect it’s a regional thing. Some countries may allow blocking because of an adblocker whereas some don’t. Most of my country’s news outlets now say “accept ads and cookies or reject and pay money”, and they’re starting to be able to block the reading mode workaround.