The project "leads" or owners can only choose what happens to their own instances! If they choose not to interact with instances they disagree with, they should be allowed to do that; after all, they are hosting and administering their instances.
Now if you create your own instance you can interact with every instance but they might not want to interact with yours.
I don't understand how this makes it more centralised, please explain further. If anything, as an instance admin I would very much like to keep the freedom to choose with whom I want to interact with.
The fediverse currently is also quite different than e.g. the email ecosystem. While we have big providers like GMail and Outlook there, companies have not really ventured into Mastodon yet. Instances like mastodon.social are run and moderated mostly by volunteers. So while the voice of mastodons creators might be influential, it really shouldn't pose a threat to you or your instance.
Now if you create your own instance you can interact with every instance but they might not want to interact with yours.
I don't understand how this makes it more centralised, please explain further. If anything, as an instance admin I would very much like to keep the freedom to choose with whom I want to interact with.
The fediverse currently is also quite different than e.g. the email ecosystem. While we have big providers like GMail and Outlook there, companies have not really ventured into Mastodon yet. Instances like mastodon.social are run and moderated mostly by volunteers. So while the voice of mastodons creators might be influential, it really shouldn't pose a threat to you or your instance.