Friend.tech, the latest decentralized social media (DeSo) app in the world of cryptocurrency, is facing significant backlash due to its recent decision to penalize users who opt for forks or copycat versions of its tokenized social media platform.
In a tweet from the official @friendtech X account on August 28, the company stated, “To make sure loyal users are rewarded fairly during our beta, users moving to forks and copies will automatically opt out of earning Points and forfeit existing points.”
This move was met with criticism, particularly from the crypto community, as it was seen as anti-competitive and contrary to the principles of the industry.
While Friend.tech did not explicitly mention any rivals, some users pointed to a new DeSo application named Shares, often referred to as “SocialFi,” that is set to enter public beta on August 31.
Friend.tech had been distributing “reward points” to its beta testers on a weekly basis, with plans to distribute a total of 100 million points over six months.
However, the purpose of these points was not clarified until an August 15 announcement, stating that they would serve a special purpose upon the app’s official release.
Speculations arose that these points could translate into friend.tech governance tokens or hold financial value for users, potentially leading to a native token airdrop in the future.
The community’s reaction to Friend.tech’s decision was swift and negative, with numerous users expressing disappointment in the approach.
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Prominent trader CryptoKaleo criticized the move, stating that penalizing users for trying other platforms goes against the industry’s ethos. The sentiment was shared by others who deemed it an inappropriate response to competition in the Web3 arena.
Amid the uproar, the pseudonymous founder of friend.tech, known as “Racer,” issued an apology on August 29 through the app’s official X account.
Racer acknowledged the initial decision as a “stupid statement” made out of fear of potential competition, ultimately rescinding the penalization plan.
This controversy arose less than three weeks after Friend.tech’s public launch on August 11.
In the aftermath, the app witnessed a decline in key metrics such as user activity, inflows, and transaction volume.
According to data from Dune Analytics, transaction numbers on Friend.tech plummeted over 90% from their peak of nearly 525,000 on August 21 to fewer than 50,000 cumulative transactions on August 28.
In summary, Friend.tech, the emerging decentralized social media app in the cryptocurrency space, faced criticism for its decision to punish users who explore forks or imitations of its platform.
The backlash prompted an apology from the app’s founder, Racer, as it grapples with declining metrics post-launch.
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