cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12282104

Decentralized messaging platform Matrix is no longer the upstart it once was. The organization is now a serious challenger to the status quo as concerns about sovereignty and independence reach new heights.

At the organization’s recent Malmo event, which grew attendance 30 percent year-on-year, the mood shifted from “yes, this is important” to “yes, we’re rolling this out.”

…

The system is an alternative to services such as Microsoft Teams. It has become popular in the public sector as governments grow increasingly wary of relying on US tech giants for services that the Trump administration could switch off at will.

However, that increased interest and subsequent roll-outs have brought a level of scrutiny Matrix was not fully prepared for. A recent report regarding anonymous reaction to a roll-out of the technology by the European Commission took Element - the company that puts the lion share of the money into Matrix - by surprise.

One attendee at the Malmo conference observed, “First they [competitors] ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you.”

Matrix remains an open standard, however, the open source foundation behind it would certainly welcome more paying members.

“It’s true that we’re definitely getting more attention than we have had before,” said Element CEO Matthew Hodgson.

…

This comes amid worries about the reliability of international partners, from early projects including France’s Tchap messenger for the public sector and Germany’s BundesMessenger through to more recent users, such as the Swedish public sector. Indeed, in one memorable demonstration during the Matrix event, messages were sent between French, Swedish, and NATO entities.

“I cannot overstate the strangeness,” Hodgson added, “of having various national militaries phoning up every couple of days, saying, ‘Look, we need to get on board Matrix too because we need to talk to this country and they’re using Matrix, and we need to talk to that country, and they’re using Matrix.’”

…

Not that Element or Matrix is trying to build a better Teams than Teams. Patrick Alberts, Element’s Chief Product Officer, said, “This is a digitally sovereign communication solution that, by and large, works like Teams in many aspects, but it’s not set out to be the faster Porsche here…”

As for the reported complaints from the European Commission over Element’s software implementation, Diana Gheorghe, EC head of sector for Communication and Collaboration Services, addressed them directly and described the anonymous complaints as “the natural friction of [a] high-profile rollout that we have done at scale.”

…

Microsoft (and other tech giants) cannot escape concerns about who ultimately controls the data and what administrations might do with it. In 2025, a Microsoft representative memorably confirmed the US giant “cannot guarantee” data sovereignty to customers in France.

There is, however, a fly in the Matrix ointment. The platform is open source and, like so many open source projects, requires funding. Right now, Element accounts for much of the Matrix Foundation’s funding. Hodgson finds this a little frustrating.

“If every government who is operationally dependent on Matrix put the smallest amount of money in the Foundation, the Foundation would have enough money to really start investing in the ecosystem and not be dependent on Element basically picking up the tab.”

…

Archived