Nice hyperbole. No, I don’t feel enslaved. Give me a fucking break. Enslaved, really? Be the fucking change you want to see, if you are feeling “enslaved.”
The issue with the corporate internet is that running large websites cost money. The larger the community, the more costs it takes to run. The balance between moderation and a free-for-all is delicate. Fully open allows too much spam and trolling to still remain useful, too much and people start writing in code to bypass censors. You want to go back to seedy chatrooms with a couple dozen regulars, I’m sure you can still find a few places to scratch that itch.
Federation is a great concept, and we’ll see where it goes, but social media splintering from a Twitter/Meta/Reddit stranglehold to a more splintered collection of sites has both advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, when everyone is in one place, you get a lot of idiots. On the other, you have to go to multiple places to find everyone/everything you’re looking for. Seems a lot of people like the ease of one-stop-shopping, so that’s how we got here.
About the same as I feel about Jesus toast. The proof is dubious, and until I see better, my default opinion is one of skepticism.