> what stops you to choose instance served by a company
That when the goodwill of said company runs out, there is very little incentive for them to maintain the service (other than trying to monetize it).
That when the goodwill of said company runs out, there is very little incentive for them to maintain the service (other than trying to monetize it).
But you have a choice: so you trust the dude in rural Canada who pays the server bills with his harvest earnings, or you agree with monetization T&C by giving up your privacy to ads corporation, or you pay a hosting company who manages your instance on VPS, or you setup your own instance, or you participate in coop scheme where you share instance with some common interest group, or you find some rich and trusted philanthropist. Otherwise the owner can't sustain the operations and may need to shut down one day (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33120136)