Technology is not neutral. Social platforms embed decisions about how we connect and which behaviours or content are emphasised. Bonfire shifts that power from corporations and BDFLs to communities, empowering them to create tools and spaces shaped by their own diverse needs and values.
Bonfire is a modular framework for building federated social apps, enabling communities to determine their own governance and moderation practices, and control every aspect of the functionality and user experience. Instead of one-size-fits-all platforms, Bonfire is built from extensions that can be assembled into different apps. From mutual aid groups to research networks, from schools to activist movements, both the features and the underlying social fabric are made to be tailored to each community’s specific mission.
This talk introduces Bonfire’s approach, highlights real-world use cases, and asks what it takes to build digital spaces that are community-led, resilient, and federated not just at a technical level, but socially, politically, and economically.
