The real differences are that you can look through the source code to see exactly what the algorithm does, and that each instances’ administrator could (theoretically) tweak it to his own liking but is required to disclose those changes because Lemmy is licensed with AGPL 3.0.
The upshot is that there’s much less moral hazard/risk of admins quietly subverting it for their own political or economic benefit.
There certainly is an algorithm, but just like on Reddit, if you don’t like it, either don’t subscribe to it or use a client that can filter posts.
The real differences are that you can look through the source code to see exactly what the algorithm does, and that each instances’ administrator could (theoretically) tweak it to his own liking but is required to disclose those changes because Lemmy is licensed with AGPL 3.0.
The upshot is that there’s much less moral hazard/risk of admins quietly subverting it for their own political or economic benefit.