Bart Jacobs and José van Dijck wrote a position paper on ‘PubHubs’, that according to them is not an alternative for the services by adtech companies (‘social media’):

PubHubs is not an alternative for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp or TikTok because it does not aspire to build a global centralized network for individuals.

What PubHubs should be:

In sum, PubHubs offers a non-profit, open source and value-driven online environment for public organizations. It aims to enhance collectivity by strengthening civil society organizations and communities rooted in local and national connections, instead of promoting global connectivity, PubHubs wishes to co-create, together with its participating organizations and users, protected and managed online meeting places where people can safely interact, without data exploitation and profile-based manipulation. PubHubs is currently solidifying its basic architecture and infrastructure and plans to start prototyping in late 2023.