You have to do the former, regardless of if you do the latter.

The issue I have is that it isn't really compatible with the idea of having a big social media network. If they wanted to make a "safe space", well, doing that via Lemmy -- or any federated platform -- wasn't the right choice.

It'd be like trying to make a "safe space" on Reddit. The idea just doesn't make sense. It's too inherently open, too public, for that to be viable.