Ultimately, I will support the decision of our gracious host, whose time and money has made this instance possible. But I do not care to interact at all with Threads/Meta and I do not believe their presence on the fediverse is anything other than an attempt to either monetize it or potentially make it obsolete

Agreed, 100%. And thanks for putting it more eloquently than I was able to, haha!

There was the theory behind some EU laws that by joining the Fediverse, they get around some monopoly issues.

So possibly 3 things that are most likely.

I will support the decision of our gracious host, whose time and money has made this instance possible.

I mean... he's a developer, not a deity. I appreciate that this is a space he made, and he can do what he wants. But I'm also free to leave if he decides to federate with a Zuckerberg product.