Looking to maybe self host my own instance, I’m still learning about the fediverse. If a different instance that I federate with hosts something illegal are there risks to me? Is anything from other instances hosted on my server like a copy of it? Or would I only end up hosting things my users post? I’m paranoid and sorry if this is a silly question.
Text is copied to your instance’s database, but any images are hosted on the other instances and simply linked to. Worst case scenario, you get told to delete something that’s illegal in the country in which you host the instance, you comply, and everything’s peachy.
Edit: That being said, I’m currently hosting an instance for myself and a few friends, and it’s been smooth-sailing. Just make sure to require email verification or admin approval for new sign-ups (or disable them entirely) if you don’t want to be overrun with bots.
That isn’t entirely true. I’m not exactly sure why, but I’ve definitely seen image posts made to remote communities that are hosted on my instance.
I’ve seen image posts I make on other instances, but the image is hosted on my own instance and just linked to the other instance.
That may explain it… point being, content for remote communities isn’t entirely “remote”. I’d like to understand what goes where a lot better. I’ve not found it explained anywhere, and I’m not a coder so can’t just “read the code yourself”.