As a user you have the ability to control what apps you use, what feeds you use, who you follow, etc. Decentralization doesn't mean it's completely free of moderation, it means users have the ability to pick their moderators and the ability to decide what is allowed on their feed and what is not.

I'm not sure I understand the way it works then.

I was assuming that if I run a node serving content, I do not deal with curating that content at all. I just offer my bandwidth/storage for compensation, like a CDN.

I don't want to be involved in curation or moderation at all, I just don't want to be held liable in case I inadvertently serve something that is illegal in my jurisdiction.

Nodes don't serve content. They serve blocks of encrypted data to other nodes. Portals run a node AND piece together content from blocks received from many nodes THEN serve the content.

You could also piece together content yourself by being your own portal. But running a node does not necessitate running a portal.

Thanks for the explanation. I suppose that's close to how TOR nodes work from a liability standpoint.