Theoretically some large company could use the “embrace, extend, extinguish” model to take over “open” standards. Microsoft was famous back then for using this strategy. It would look something like this:

1. Embrace: large company creates a really stable and well moderated instance that federates with almost everything to attract users

2. Extend: large company adds custom features to the instance that are incompatible with other instances

3. Extinguish: people stop using other instances as incompatibilities start impacting user experience. Big instance might also stop federating with other instances, so users are forced to use their instance to see content. After this, big company starts making the platform shittier to make more money.

Yeah, people need to realize that maintaining a good social media platform just isn’t profitable without enshittifying it with ads or paywalling key features.