Unfortunately this isn't applicable outside of the US in many cases, like in my case.
Is there a way to choose which instances you want to include, instead of which ones you want to exclude? So the default is that no instances except the ones you explicitly allow, federate with you? Or is this against the spirit of the fediverse?
I'd love to support the fediverse but this sounds like a huge hassle and a problem. Maybe it's just me though, I'm glad that there are others that have decided to host instances.
What are the risks associated with this? With image uploading capabilities and the like I'm thinking there might be an issue with people posting highly illegal content. I used to run some smaller forums 15 years ago and that went fine, but it feels like the risks are higher today... I'm both thinking about one's own personal mental health in needing to moderate such content, and also whether it'll be a legal liability to run an instance if people post illegal content.