
Ask HN: Can a nonprofit org clone Facebook? - reacharavindh
Let&#x27;s say an org like Wikipedia decides to build a website called Openbook. It looks and feels like Facebook (say in a different shade of blue with different fonts :-) ) and has a wall, newsfeed, photos, events etc. would that be a violation of anything with Facebook? Copyright? Patents?<p>Asking just out of curiosity.
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look_for_agpl
How much do you think it's cost to build the current version of Facebook?

How much does it cost to design a vehicle?

If you were to copy the design, paint it a different color, and put a
different logo on it, would that be subject to damages? Yes, I think it would.

There's GNU Social:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_social](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_social)

There's Mastodon (which is a blatant clone of Twitter with federation and
OStatus and no SMS support):
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon_(software)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastodon_\(software\))

Beyond a certain number of users, handling spam and harassment can become very
expensive (because people who can afford to pay damages aren't out abusing
others on the internet).

