Saabe Dream by Mishiikenh Kwe
Used with permission ©Mishiikenh Kwe https://www.instagram.com/mishiikenhkwe

#DigitalBack is #LandBack

Every Native/Indigenous person and true ally understands #LandBack, the most critical component of decolonization. #DigitalBack is the same thing in the digital world.

Decolonization scholars Tuck and Yang wrote in Decolonization is not a metaphor that ‘Decolonization brings about the repatriation of Indigenous land and life’. Today, we can easily see that the virtual version of land and life in the digital world includes social media. That the digital world including social media is critically important to modern day Native people in many many ways doesn’t need explanation.

All the North American Native people that I know yearn for Native nation full non-custodial sovereignty and the repatriation of formerly Native lands back to the Native people. These yearnings are more easily expressed than achieved of course, but we are moving in that direction. It is clear what needs to happen.

Elon Musk acquired Twitter on October 27, 2022

When Elon Musk acquired Twitter, it was clear to me and most people that Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Twitter were not only dominant social media forces and colonial as hell, but owned by evil white billionaires.

I foresaw the degradation of the Native community on Twitter. Like many, I sought out alternatives to immigrate to. Among other alternatives, I found Mastodon. And most interestingly, I found a Native owned and operated Mastodon server. My collaborator Tzipporah and I joined it in the very beginning of November 2022.

I asked myself why wouldn’t we want full non-custodial sovereignty of the Native digital world for ourselves and other Native people? In other words, why wouldn’t we want a digital version of #LandBack?

The light bulb went on

The answer to the above question, was yes of course, we want a digital version of #LandBack. We want full non-custodial sovereignty of the Native digital world for ourselves and other Native people. We want data and moderation sovereignty. And so Tzipporah and I started our own Native Mastodon instance December 5, 2022.

Naturally starting a conventionally centralized Native owned social media community of any consequence was beyond my desires, talents, energies and resources. However, running Mastodon on a Linux virtual server was right up my skills alley and within my limited pocketbook. I imagined we could be one of many Native Mastodon (or other decentralized ActivityPub protocol) servers that could evolve into a large thriving Native community, that no evil white billionaire could take away from us. Decentralized social media could kickstart #DigitalBack.

Spring forward to 2025

What became the TurtleIsland.social Mastodon instance is small but healthy. The non-Native Mastodon/ActivityPub community as a whole has been supportive, financially and otherwise. We’ve been able to moderate to Native standards. #DigitalBack life is good. There are many benefits to Native ownership and moderation over even decentralized white ownership and moderation. I am forever sold on #DigitalBack.

Since 2022, another decentralized social media protocol (Bluesky AT protocol) has evolved successfully. Tzipporah and I decided both Mastodon and Bluesky were valuable, and in April 2025 we added TurtleIs.land, a Bluesky PDS to Turtle Island.

Today, in 2025, all Native/Indigenous people, groups and organizations have decolonized social media options available to them.

There is no way to sugar coat this, let’s get serious

Here is hard part to chew, number one. As I mentioned above, in 2022, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Twitter (which became X.com) were not only dominant social media forces and colonial as hell, but owned by evil white billionaires. Further, I would posit, that in 2025, to be a Native/Indigenous user on those platforms, at the very least approaches a moral failing. And especially the Twitter platform, now X.com, which is a right-wing cesspool. X.com is unquestionably a Nazi bar. Under Elon Musk it has become the defacto Fascist Nazi social media hangout. Every part of it is polluted and poisonous.

I understand some Native/Indigenous people, groups and organizations have vested interests on Xitter but please face reality. No matter how painful your personal and/or professional absence from Xitter could be to you, staying there is not something you should rationalize. At this point, a continued presence on that platform makes you complicit in a great deal of frankly non-Native colonial evil. Your ancestors are not proud, I guarantee this. You can change this today.

You can make a better future now

Here is hard part to chew, number two. Today, you have two decentralized social media alternatives that are currently not totally evil: Mastodon/ActivityPub and Bluesky/ATproto. Both are almost all white-owned and colonial as hell. As a Native/Indigenous person, why would you prefer white-owned colonial social media over Native-owned decolonized social media that has full network access? You have a choice.

Today is 2025 not pre-2022. And your choices include TurtleIsland.social Mastodon/ActivityPub and TurtleIs.land Bluesky/ATproto, but you can also start your own decolonized Mastodon or Bluesky social media with full network access if Turtle Island isn’t your cup of tea. A group or organization can start their own decolonized social media with full network access. There are no acceptable reasons for Native/Indigenous people to avoid decolonizing their social media.

If you are on white-owned colonial social media, and you have decolonized options you choose not to take… Don’t deceive yourself, you are not decolonized, you are part of the colonial machine by choice and preference.

If you choose data and moderation sovereignty

Not one to complain or go negative without a positive slant, I’m willing to help. You can signup at TurtleIsland.social and/or TurtleIs.land today. Or I can advise you on starting your own server. Think about it. Consider it. Do it. Don’t be colonial.

#DigitalBack = #LandBack

Mvto!
-Yehuda