This is also why I get so pissed about the Fediverse “don’t scrape me bro” crybabies and their whole talk about “consent-based following”.

Malicious actors do not ask for consent. Malicious actors know how to bypass authorized fetch. Malicious actors will have absolute no qualms creating accounts on the same server as you just to be able to follow you. You can even argue that malicious actors will even build an instance that you find super appealing in order to be able to collect your communication.

It doesn’t matter how you feel you are entitled to a “safe space”, if you are talking in public. People might ignore you, but they are never go around with their ears covered just because you are asking them to.