It seems the fediverse is continuing and growing again. Line go up is probably good!
https://fediverse.observer/stats&months=50
Total users are huge now.
There are many websites out there that pull data from the fediverse. So take that with a grain of salt. But anecdotally I am seeing a small rise in people using the various platforms as each get more mature and servers somewhat stabilize.
I've often wondered if this is where the internet will be headed. Not bc it's "better" than what we had before with the free and open Internet of ye olden days, but in situations where it becomes the only thing that could ultimately survive the onslaught of enshittification.
Theres a book series, a lit rpg called tunnel rat that goes over a "post internet" as part of its lore. Its an interesting thought experiment. And I can see localized meshnets becoming a bit more popular.
With peertube and a city wide network, you stop having to worry about copyright as much.
I'm sure that it could be infiltrated eventually, but so long as it remains small that shouldn't be worth the trouble. It's an intriguing idea! :-P