Summary
Better Web, Better World
The internet is broken, and it’s urgent that we fix it. We can – and must – do more to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our children, our democracy, and our society as a whole.
The institutions and ideals we cherish most are being destroyed for use of free apps that steal our personal data and digital identities. I encourage anyone who is interested in reclaiming their personhood from the machines of Big Tech to engage with Project Liberty and help reimagine an internet that is designed for people and the collective good. We can do this.
Frank McCourt, Founder of Project Liberty
News
The US onAir Network & Democracy onAir, the nonpartisan nonprofit supporting US onAir have been inspired by the Vision of Frank McCourt and his stewardship of Project Liberty … and the development of the Decentralized Social Network Protocol (DSNP), the Frequency DSN protocol being piloted by MeWe as well as other DSNP protocols like the AT Protocol used by Bluesky and the Activity Pub Protocol used by Mastodon.
Likewise, Democracy onAir is in the process of exploring how it can adapt the Frequency protocol for its People’s Networks for Democracy for the US and other democratic countries. We have compiled a number of posts related the DSNPs in “The People’s Internet” category.
Project Liberty
Project Liberty is stitching together an ecosystem of technologists, academics, policymakers and citizens committed to building a better internet—where the data is ours to manage, the platforms are ours to govern, and the power is ours to reclaim. Three fundamental beliefs anchor our vision and form the foundation of Project Liberty’s work:
Frank McCourt
Frank H. McCourt Jr. is an American business executive and philanthropist. As of 2023, he is the executive chairman and former CEO of McCourt Global, owner of the football club Marseille and founder and executive chairman of international non-profit Project Liberty.
In 2013, he donated $100 million to establish the McCourt School of Public Policy, the ninth school of Georgetown University. He made a second $100 million gift to Georgetown University in March 2021, for the express purpose of ensuring that “the McCourt School can open its doors more widely and build a pipeline of future public policy leaders that reflects the true diversity of our communities.”
In 2021, he founded the non-profit Project Liberty. The initiative has multiple components which includes the development of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), the founding of the McCourt Institute with founding academic partners Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and Sciences Po in Paris, and a network of partners within the Unfinished network.
Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP)
DSNP is an open protocol and potential standard for social networking and social media. It is not owned or controlled by any one person or company, allowing anyone to build on it or use it. DSNP is stewarded by Project Liberty Institute, a 501(c)(3).
DSNP is an open-source social media protocol designed to decentralize data ownership, allow easier cross-platform interaction, and let users regain control over their personal data. This includes posts, connections, and messages. The decentralized approach allows users to retain ownership of their information and move it between platforms without relying on a single provider.
Frequency Protocol
Frequency is a blockchain designed to support decentralized social networks to give people control over their online presence. With Frequency, users can freely choose and connect on social apps while retaining ownership of their data.
Built on the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), Frequency offers scalable tools for message discovery, flexible storage for social and identity data, and a unique cost-sharing model that allows apps to deliver smooth, secure experiences that put users in charge.
The People’s Bid for TikTok
The People’s Bid is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Americans to reclaim a voice, choice, and stake in the future of the internet. In April 2024, Congress passed legislation forcing a ban or sale of TikTok in the U.S.
Project Liberty is building a broad consortium of technologists, investors, community leaders, and creators to purchase TikTok and migrate the platform to new infrastructure that allows people to control their own data. We believe a reimagined TikTok can preserve the creativity and dynamism that have made it the cultural engine of the internet while fixing the issues that led Congress to act. Today’s TikTok is a problem. Together, we can make it a solution to the issues created by Big Tech.
Apps Using Frequency Protocol
Frequency is currently being piloted for integration with a number of social media apps including MeWe, We Are 8, and Soar.
Their plans are to integrate with the Frequency blockchain, a groundbreaking move that will allow people to protect their private data while accessing cutting edge AI solutions. The plan leverages revolutionary internet infrastructure developed by the Frequency Network Foundation and Project Liberty.
OnAir Post: Apps Using Frequency Protocol
AT Protocol & Bluesky
The AT Protocol (Authenticated Transfer Protocol, pronounced “at-protocol” and commonly shortened to ATProto)is a protocol and open standard for decentralized social networking services.
It is under development by Bluesky Social PBC, a public benefit corporation originally created as an independent research group within Twitter to investigate the possibility of decentralizing the service.
OnAir Post: AT Protocol & Bluesky
Acitivity Hub & Mastodon
ctivityPub is a protocol and open standard for decentralized social networking. It provides a client-to-server (C2S) API for creating and modifying content, as well as a federated server-to-server (S2S) protocol for delivering notifications and content to other servers.
ActivityPub has become the main standard used in the fediverse, a popular network used for social networking that consists of software such as Mastodon, Pixelfed and PeerTube.
OnAir Post: Acitivity Hub & Mastodon
Time, – November 21, 2022
In the last few years, McCourt has turned his focus to social media, which he says has deeply exacerbated many of the world’s problems. “The economy, inflation, abortion, immigration, democracy: If you step away from all those issues, what drives viewpoints and opinions and perspectives on them is social media,” he says. “It’s going to be very, very hard to solve these big, important societal issues if we can’t have a coherent conversation about them. And our current use of social media currently is not designed to optimize for truth or a shared set of facts.”
McCourt has already committed $150 million of his own money to Project Liberty, and says that ultimately “billions of dollars” will be needed for the effort to effect lasting change. In an interview, he declared his intention to spend 90% of his working time on Project Liberty and 10% on McCourt Global, as opposed to the other way around. “This is a big shift in my focus, but it demonstrates the importance of Project Liberty to me,” he says.
PR Newswire, – January 16, 2024
Published by Crown Publishing Group, civic entrepreneur Frank McCourt joins forces with journalist Michael Casey to present a galvanizing call to action for a tech revolution that empowers people over platforms and accelerates a new internet era.
On March 12, 2024, Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, will publish OUR BIGGEST FIGHT: Reclaiming Liberty, Humanity, and Dignity in the Digital Age—a resounding call to action for building a healthier and more equitable internet that frees users from Big Tech’s exploitation, recognizes individuals’ rights to their data, safeguards children and prioritizes the common good—from Frank H. McCourt, Jr., and acclaimed journalist, Michael J. Casey.
The internet was once a utopian dream. And its impact has transformed how we live, learn, work and communicate. Despite its conveniences and connectivity, today’s internet is causing real harm and is the primary cause of a pervasive unease that has taken hold in the U.S. and other democratic societies. Instead of driving progress and collaboration, its dominant platforms are fueling a youth mental health crisis, polluting public discourse with misinformation and toxicity, eroding trust and undermining our most important institutions. Left unchecked, the internet in its current, highly centralized form—dominated by a handful of Big Tech giants that feed on our data—threatens to destabilize societies, democracies and human interaction at every level. And it will get exponentially more harmful in the age of artificial intelligence. McCourt and Casey explain how we can get off this destructive path and seize this most urgent of moments to build an internet that serves society’s needs.
For decades, thought leaders and policy experts have weighed in with suggestions for fixing the internet’s ills, mostly through top-down regulation. What sets McCourt and Casey apart is their relentless focus on the need to innovate our way forward and address the problem at its roots, starting with the web’s underlying infrastructure. Inspired by historical calls to action like Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, OUR BIGGEST FIGHT depicts a set of compelling parallels between the American revolution and the need for a similar action today to throw off the shackles of Big Tech. Now is the time, McCourt and Casey argue, to embed the core values of a free, democratic society in the internet of tomorrow.
McCourt is the executive chairman of McCourt Global, a private family company committed to building a better future and extending the McCourt family’s 130-year legacy of developing infrastructure and merging community and social impact with financial results through its work across the real estate, sports & media, technology and capital investment industries, as well as its significant philanthropic activities. Named one of the Top 50 Philanthropists in the U.S. by The Chronical of Philanthropy, McCourt is the foundational donor of Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. As a fifth-generation builder, he’s wary of Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” ethos and, as a father of seven, concerned about how technology is impacting children, families and communities – and putting our future at risk. Determined to carry out projects that leave a positive impact on society, McCourt is focused on Project Liberty, a bold and far-reaching effort to build an internet where individuals have more control over their data, a voice in how digital platforms operate, and more access to the economic benefits of innovation. Supported by a $500-million commitment from McCourt, Project Liberty encompasses the work of the Project Liberty Foundation—a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, Sciences Po, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations—and Amplica Labs, a technology business launched by McCourt Global that is focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure.
Information is the lifeblood of any society, and our current system for accessing, engaging and sharing it is corrupted at its heart. Rather than a free-flowing exchange of ideas in a decentralized environment, today’s internet is a closed-loop system, dominated by large technology firms feeding on our individual data and using increasingly sophisticated algorithms to keep people addicted and perpetually doom scrolling. In plain but forceful language, the authors illustrate how this centralized system, controlled by a small group of for-profit entities, has set a catastrophe in motion and stripped us of our personhood. Trust is gone, hostility is on the rise and people—especially parents concerned about their kids’ use of social media—are desperate for solutions.
McCourt and Casey offer much-needed hope for a better future. Optimistically and convincingly, they lay out a groundbreaking solution to reclaim what Big Tech has co-opted and corrupted: a new, decentralized model for managing information over the internet that, by its very design, puts the rights of the individuals first. They reimagine the internet as a place where the individual can choose whether or not to share their data. A place where people can reclaim their identity, digital footprint, and personal sovereignty. A place where individual rights are sacrosanct – and where tech corporations must agree to our terms of use before accessing the data, content and connections we create online.
Much like Americans have amended the U.S. Constitution in order to enshrine new rights and obligations, so too must we amend the protocols by which the internet operates. By upgrading the internet’s current architecture, we can lay the foundation for a more equitable and inclusive web that prioritizes people over platforms and enables users to own and control their personal data.
McCourt and Casey make a powerful argument for acting now, before a Big Tech-driven AI transformation is complete, to build a new, open internet that works for humanity, rather than against it. Americans have an opportunity—perhaps the last one we’ll ever get—to lead the world out of a mess we helped create.
About the Authors
Frank H. McCourt, Jr. is the Executive Chairman of McCourt Global, a private family enterprise working across the real estate, sports, technology, media, and capital investment industries. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of Project Liberty, a far-reaching effort to build an internet where individuals have more control over their data, a voice in how digital platforms operate, and more access to the economic benefits of innovation. Supported by a $500-million commitment from McCourt, Project Liberty encompasses the work of the Project Liberty Foundation—a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, Sciences Po, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations—and Amplica Labs, a technology business launched by McCourt Global that is focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure that empowers people and safeguards children.
Michael J. Casey is the Chief Content Officer at the award-winning media company CoinDesk, co-host of the “Money Reimagined” podcast, and the Chairman of the Consensus conference. He has worked as a journalist on five continents, including eighteen years with Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, and was a founding staffer at MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative. Casey’s previous books include The Age of Cryptocurrency, The Social Organism, and The Truth Machine.
ABOUT MCCOURT GLOBAL & PROJECT LIBERTY
McCourt Global (MG) is a private family company focused on building for tomorrow through its work across real estate, sports & media, technology, capital investment and social impact. Led by founder and Executive Chairman Frank McCourt, a civic entrepreneur and fifth-generation builder, and an international leadership team, MG extends the McCourt family’s 130-year legacy of developing infrastructure and merging community and social impact with financial results — an approach that began when the original McCourt company was launched in Boston in 1893.
In 2021, MG publicly launched Project Liberty, a far-reaching effort to build an internet where individuals have more control over their data, a voice in how digital platforms operate, and more access to the economic benefits of innovation. Project Liberty’s activities include the release and stewardship of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), which is available as a public utility to serve as the bedrock of a more equitable and inclusive web, and its launch of the Safe Tech, Safe Kids campaign focused on youth mental health and social media. Project Liberty’s Institute (formerly The McCourt Institute) works to ensure that digital governance is prioritized in the development of the next generation of the internet. The institute’s founding academic partners include Georgetown University, Stanford University, and Sciences Po; and it is collaborating with MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication and Cortico, as well as Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society to support the creation of healthier social networks. In 2023, Frank McCourt unveiled Project Liberty’s “Better Web, Better World” manifesto at Web Summit in Lisbon. This vision for a new web is supported by the work of Amplica Labs, which is led by the tech team behind DSNP and focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure. Through a $500-million commitment that supports both nonprofit and commercial activities, Project Liberty aims to unleash a new era of innovation that empowers people over platforms and serves the common good.
SOURCE McCourt Global
Project Liberty, – December 17, 2024
How Can Governments Catalyze Positive Digital Infrastructure Innovation?”
Data is the lifeblood of the digital economy, shaping who benefits from technological progress. The report underscores how digital infrastructure—including identity systems, payment platforms, and data exchanges—can transform sectors by enhancing accessibility, efficiency, and sustainability. However, market concentration among dominant tech platforms raises critical questions about competition, individual control, and equity.
Governments are uniquely positioned to act as both regulators and market shapers, driving innovation while ensuring a fair distribution of digital power. By establishing standards, investing in infrastructure, and fostering open ecosystems under robust governance frameworks, governments can pave the way for inclusive growth and trust in technology.
One of the report’s central themes is the call for governments to push the adoption of decentralized, transparent, and inclusive frameworks to prevent more extractive, centralized digital models. Key global frameworks such as the UN’s Global Digital Compact and the G20’s Digital Public Infrastructure principles provide a solid starting point. Yet, challenges remain in harmonizing definitions, enabling interoperability, and reconciling regional differences.
Project Liberty, – November 22, 2024
Building on their shared mission to give people control of their digital lives, Project Liberty, Frequency Network Foundation, and WeAre8 are transforming social media through the Frequency blockchain, empowering people with ownership, transparency, and the freedom to engage in a healthier, fairer digital world
Project Liberty, Frequency Network Foundation, and WeAre8, a transformational social media platform, today announced a collaboration that will accelerate their innovative, people-first digital solutions, delivering a more transparent and economically beneficial social media experience. Project Liberty, Frequency Network Foundation and WeAre8 have built digital experiences that prioritizes individual empowerment, economic fairness, and genuine digital interactions, breaking away from Big Tech’s profit-driven algorithms – and together are embarking on the next phase of this revolution.
This collaboration marks a major milestone toward putting control of our digital experiences back into the hands of the people. WeAre8 plans to integrate with the Frequency blockchain, which will allow users to benefit from increased financial value and regain control of their digital identity. This revolutionary internet infrastructure was developed by the Frequency Network Foundation and Project Liberty.
“WeAre8 is living proof that a digital world free from Big Tech’s addictive algorithms can be amazing,” said Frank McCourt, Founder of Project Liberty. “By placing power back in the hands of people, individuals can control their own experiences and benefit financially from their interactions with content. Project Liberty is honored to join forces with WeAre8 as we usher in a new digital era of people’s platforms powered by a people’s internet.”
“This collaboration with Project Liberty marks a pivotal moment for a reimagined digital world that serves the people and supports the planet,” said Zoe Kalar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of WeAre8. “We have transformed social media by eliminating toxic content, removed algorithms so people can reach all their followers with every post, and built a transformational economic model where the ad revenues are shared with people. Project Liberty brings all our citizens another layer of independence, protection and freedom and we are excited about what our partnership means for people when we are all truly free from big tech control.”
A transformational feature of WeAre8 is its commitment to redistributing wealth back into the hands of people through its business model: 60% of its ad revenue is returned directly to citizens (users), charities, creators, and planet-impact projects. Unlike traditional platforms that force advertising into people’s feeds and encourage endless scrolling, WeAre8 separates the ads from the feeds, enabling people to discover and even link off-platform from feed posts, while giving them choice on when they watch ads. And people are happy to watch them when they are valued. Every ad dollar is shared with people for every completed ad view, empowering them to direct these funds toward community initiatives, charitable causes, mobile bills, subscriptions or their personal needs.
For more information about WeAre8, visit here. For more information about Project Liberty, visit here. For more information about Frequency, visit here.
Foundation for American Innovation, – December 17, 2024
Middleware, third-party software intermediaries between users and platforms, offers a promising solution to counter the concentrated power of social media platforms. The term has referred to a variety of technologies and systems over the years, including third-party provider tools that platforms themselves use internally. In this paper, we focus on “middleware” in the form of open, third-party products and services that are composable—meaning, with multiple providers available to be mixed and matched for specific use cases—and which offer user agency over the selection process and overall experience.
The success of open middleware presently hinges on the adoption and cooperation of established major platforms. For middleware to thrive in the present largely centralized environment, platforms must permit third-party services to operate and enable users to choose between them. However, the growing rise of federated platforms, such as Mastodon and Bluesky, and the increasing participation of major platforms in the fediverse (e.g., Meta’s Threads), creates new opportunities for the development and adoption of middleware as an integral part of the user experience. These emerging ecosystems prioritize user choice and both horizontal and vertical interoperation, allowing for community-driven moderation tools and enhanced user control of the social media experience.
Face the Nation, – December 8, 2024 (07:14)
Business executive Frank McCourt, executive chairman of McCourt Global and founder of Project Liberty, tells “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that his company is working very hard to position itself as a possible buyer for the U.S. portion of TikTok. A panel of federal judges in Washington, D.C. last week upheld a new law that could effectively ban the popular social media app the social media platform by mid-January if its Chinese owners do not sell it to a new buyer.
Project Liberty, founded by billionaire Frank McCourt, has pulled together participants for a consortium of investors interested in pursuing a “peoples bid” for TikTok, McCourt told Axios.
Why it matters: A U.S. court has until January 19 to decide whether TikTok should be banned if it does not find a U.S. buyer.
- With Big Tech under record antitrust scrutiny, a wealthy U.S. investor group could be a plausible buyer for the app — which could be worth anywhere from $20 billion to $100 billion, depending on how the U.S. part of the business is split from its parent.
State of play: McCourt launched Project Liberty, which includes both a for-profit company and a non-profit institute, in 2021 to help build and advocate for a safer and more equitable internet. He announced his intentions to assemble an investor group to buy the app in May.
About
Overview
Project Liberty is stitching together an ecosystem of technologists, academics, policymakers and citizens committed to building a better internet—where the data is ours to manage, the platforms are ours to govern, and the power is ours to reclaim. Three fundamental beliefs anchor our vision and form the foundation of Project Liberty’s work:
Choice
When people have greater control over their individual experience online and expanded opportunities to manage their data, they can make informed decisions about everything from their privacy and safety to which spaces they choose to participate in. This is digital self-determination, and it is the fundamental principle of the web we deserve. It centers people, not platforms. It protects personal data, not corporate profits. It values freedom of movement across the web, not consolidation of power within any one platform. Self-determination online begins at the protocol level—the base infrastructure of the internet—which is why we’re developing new protocols like DSNP that give people agency over their digital experience and data.
Voice
When people can act as digital citizens entrusted to shape the governance of the spaces they log into everyday, they can create platforms and applications driven by societal value and transparency instead of corporate profits and black-box algorithms. This is digital citizenship, and it is the set of collective responsibilities undertaken by people who embody digital self-determination to build a digital civic architecture of spaces, platforms, tools, and practices that put into action the principles of openness, safety, privacy, accountability, transparency, and ownership.
Stake
The platform-take-all business models of today’s internet are not equitable, long-term models. The economic value from big data and major network effects stem from the contributions, activity, and content of everyday people, and yet that value isn’t shared. An internet that resembles a representative democracy is an internet whose economic value is distributed fairly. This is digital ownership. It is the economic model compatible with a system of digital self-determination and digital citizenship. And yet, today we lack the models where people can participate in the economic upside of their data and online contributions. Innovation is needed, which is why Project Liberty is supporting the piloting and experimentation of new economic models for the future.
Source: Website
Frank McCourt
Frank H. McCourt Jr. (born August 14, 1953) is an American business executive and philanthropist. As of 2023, he is the executive chairman and former CEO of McCourt Global, owner of the football club Marseille and founder and executive chairman of international non-profit Project Liberty.
In 2013, he donated $100 million to establish the McCourt School of Public Policy, the ninth school of Georgetown University. He made a second $100 million gift to Georgetown University in March 2021, for the express purpose of ensuring that “the McCourt School can open its doors more widely and build a pipeline of future public policy leaders that reflects the true diversity of our communities.”
In 2021, he founded the non-profit Project Liberty. The initiative has multiple components which includes the development of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), the founding of the McCourt Institute with founding academic partners Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and Sciences Po in Paris, and a network of partners within the Unfinished network.
In 2024, he announced plans to build a consortium to buy the US arm of TikTok.
Frank McCourt was featured in the December 19, 2024 US onAir news post titled: The Vision of Frank McCourt.
OnAir Post: Frank McCourt
Team
Project Liberty Leadership
Frank McCourt
Founder of Project Liberty
Tomicah Tillemann
President, Project Liberty; Interim CEO Project Liberty Institute
Paula Recart
Chief Impact Officer
Braxton Woodham
Co-creator of DSNP
Project Liberty Team
Scott Bendar
Head of Software Development
Denise Duncan
Head of Program Management
Kila Englebrook
Head of Operations
Harry Evans
CTO and Co-creator of DSNP
Lara Galinsky
Head of Partnerships
Kenne Ives
Head of Product
Chris Mitchell
General Counsel
Taylor Patterson
Head of Communications
Alex Poscente
Chief of Staff
Project Liberty Board of Stewards/Advisors
Frank McCourt
Founder of Project Liberty
Angela Glover Blackwell
Founder in Residence, PolicyLink
Dr. John DeGioia
President, Georgetown University
Todd Golub, M.D.
Director, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Eric Liu
Co-Founder & CEO, Citizen University
Dorcas Muthoni
Founder, OPENWORLD LTD
Dr. Dava Newman
Director, MIT Media Lab
Dan Porterfield
President & CEO, Aspen Institute
Jeremy Heimans
Co-founder & Chairman, Purpose
Daniel Sachs
Founder & CEO, P Capital Partners
Source: Website
Alliance
The Project Liberty Alliance consists of over 100 organizations—tech companies, policy groups, impact initiatives, academic institutions, and more—committed to a people-powered internet.
The Alliance serves as a learning and collaboration engine through which members of the community can advance their organizational goals, all while strengthening the overlaps in our missions. It is designed as a way to share learnings, build relationships, and spark collaborations throughout the responsible tech ecosystem and related fields.
Source: Website
Labs
Labs is at the forefront of transforming the digital landscape. As a pivotal part of Project Liberty initiated by McCourt Global, we are committed to empowering creators to innovate within the realm of social applications. Our mission harnesses cutting-edge technology to build essential infrastructure for the next evolution of digital interaction.
Empowering Connections
Our goal at Labs is simple: Revolutionize how we interact online by creating user-centric platforms. From creating the cutting-edge Frequency blockchain to developing the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), we’re putting control back into the hands of the users.
A Future of Transparent Networking
Imagine a digital world where social networking seamlessly integrates into the internet itself, granting freedom and unmatched transparency. At Labs, this vision is becoming a reality.
Real-World Impact
- MeWe Integration: Our collaboration with MeWe, known for its commitment to privacy, utilizes the Frequency blockchain to enhance user control and data security, reflecting our shared values of privacy and empowerment.
- Acquisition of Speakeasy: The integration of Speakeasy’s AI technologies advances our ability to improve digital discourse, making online interactions more respectful, engaging, and insightful
Source: Website
Project Liberty’s Summit- November 2024
Last week, 500+ leaders in technology, policy, civil society, finance, and media descended on Washington, D.C. for Project Liberty’s Summit on the Future of the Internet. The two-day event provided an opportunity to chart a new course toward a digital future where people have a voice, choice, and stake in a better web.
Through Project Liberty’s partnership with POLITICO, the summit was live-streamed (and you can watch a recording here for Day 1 and here for Day 2). We wanted to share six key takeaways from an incredibly rich and varied array of conversations that took place among the attendees:
// Takeaway #1: The new internet is already here—and it’s built around you.
There was a recognition at the summit that the next generation of the internet is already here—it just needs scale to reach the masses. The summit took place at a critical inflection point, as the public is nowmore aware of the challenges and issues present online than ever before. Users are flocking to new platforms like Bluesky, , whose CEO was one of many participants in our discussions. Policymakers in dozens of states are writing bills and passing legislation. New technologies are giving users greater control.
Joe Lubin, the co-founder of Ethereum and the founder/CEO of Consensys, provided a window into the fast-moving space of the decentralized web and its new business models. “Web2 continued the business model from the 20th century,” he said. “This business model of an organization offers as little as possible and extracts as much as possible from their consumers—an adversarial relationship. Web3, by being based on open protocols, will now enable us to create a user-centric web, and this feels like the natural business model of the web going forward.” At the summit, Project Liberty, Consensys, and Frequency announced a partnership to develop infrastructure for a more people-centered internet.
// Takeaway #2: It’s time to focus on solutions.
In his opening remarks, Project Liberty’s President, Tomicah Tillemann, said “With tech that is already operating at scale, achieving a people’s internet over the next four years is not only possible, but probable. With your help, it can become inevitable. We all know the internet is broken. On behalf of the next generation, we need the people in this room to fix it.” Doing so will require us to stop admiring the problem and focus on solutions. These include:
Building interoperability by giving people more options to navigate and control their data through online spaces;
Designing new economic models so individuals can participate in the value they create;
Passing new laws to mandate portability of personal information, including social graphs;
Strengthening online privacy;
Scaling open-sourcing digital infrastructure; and
Providing people with better alternatives to today’s incumbent platforms, like decentralized tools and technology.
// Takeaway #3: Your data is you.
A central theme of Project Liberty’s Summit was the role of data in empowering individuals to reclaim control over their digital identities. Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador-at-Large,and an advisor to Project Liberty Institute, spoke about “selective disclosure” technology, or tools that allow people to disclose just a part of their identity on the web. “The great hope is to think of this as public infrastructure,” Tang said, where open-source technologies can be adopted by other countries and jurisdictions.
We’re in the midst of a renaissance of tech innovations around data ownership: from Project Liberty’s Frequency blockchain to new models like data commons and data trusts. Sylvie Delacroix, the Inaugural Jeff Price Chair in Digital Law at King’s College London, presented her work to launch the first data trust pilot worldwide in 2022 through the Data Trusts initiative. Matthew Prewitt, the President of the RadicalxChange Foundation, highlighted their work with Serpentine around Partial Common Ownership of art, as a new model for collective ownership of digital assets.
At its heart, The People’s Bid to acquire TikTok reimagines our relationship with data, leveraging new technology to restore users’ control over the data that rightfully belongs to them.
// Takeaway #4: To transform the internet, we need scale.
Building a better internet won’t happen through disconnected pilots or small-scale efforts. It requires, as Project Liberty’s founder, Frank McCourt, said, a million “Davids” fighting against the Goliath of big tech. To reach this kind of scale, we need new economic models, new incentive structures that go beyond hypergrowth, and new types of governance that share the economic value that’s created.
To imagine a different economy, Project Liberty Institute released the report“Towards a Fair Data Economy: A Blueprint for Innovation and Growth.” Drafted by the Fair Data Economy Task Force, a group of 18 distinguished leaders from over 10 countries (including Daron Acemoglu, who recently won the Nobel Prize in Economics), the Blueprint outlined four pillars to transform the economy:
- Entrepreneurship and new business models
- Next-generation digital infrastructure
- Policy innovation and frameworks
- Strategic capital allocation
// Takeaway #5: We need better policy and leadership from the public sector.
From speakers to breakout sessions, the summit kept returning to a key theme—the leadership that policymakers and government officials must play in shaping the future of the internet. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D – Minnesota) spoke at the summit on Day 1 (watch here) and emphasized the role of government. She said, “If you believe in economic liberty, you cannot just have everything controlled by a few giant companies, and think that everything is going to work out just fine.” This has been what the internet has become in recent years, but it doesn’t need to be the internet’s future. From greater antitrust regulation to federal laws surrounding privacy, Klobuchar outlined a way forward.
Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R – Washington) spoke about how her work to advance data privacy is personal, with three school-age kids at home. With our online data being collected, manipulated, and exploited, “It is important that Congress act in order to protect our individual privacy rights online,” she said on a panel, highlighting her work to pass a privacy bill.
Project Liberty also unveiled its latest Policy Blueprint to guide policymakers on digital governance. This Policy Blueprint is designed to give the incoming Administration and legislators across the US actionable, high-impact, and nonpartisan policy solutions to transform the internet.
// Takeaway #6: This is not just about tech. This is about reclaiming our liberty.
“We the people have become the largest unpaid workforce in human history.” These were the words from Zoe Kalar, the Founder of the social media app WeAre8 where advertisers pay the users to advertise (WeAre8, Project Liberty and Frequency just announced a collaboration to integrate Frequency into WeAre8). She’s one of many leaders who participated in the summit who are shifting the balance of power from corporations to individuals and giving everyday people an economic stake in their digital lives. “Humanity has been in an abusive relationship with the technology that enslaves us. Now it’s time to break free.”
Frank McCourt built on this idea as he shared his closing remarks: The collective work to build the next generation of the internet is not just a tech project, he said. Instead, it is something far more profound; it’s about reclaiming our agency, our autonomy, our liberty. It’s about tapping into what it means to be human. By fixating too much on the tech, we might miss the bigger picture of what it means to be citizens in the digital age, and we might miss the opportunity before us to practice our self-determination.
~~
In newsletters in the coming weeks, we’ll be exploring some of the big ideas that emerged from the summit in more depth. For now, check out the recordings from Day 1 here and Day 2 here.
Other notable headlines
// ? Everyone in AI seems to agree that new models are hitting a scaling wall, according to an article in The Verge. Now, the buzz is turning to ‘reasoning’ and AI agents.
// ? AI can now create a replica of your personality. A two-hour interview is enough to accurately capture your values and preferences, according to new research highlighted in an article in MIT Technology Review.
// ? In its antitrust case, the US Justice Department asked a judge to force Google to sell its Chrome browser, according to an article in The New York Times.
// ? New data shows the number of new mobile internet users is stalling. What happened to the “next billion” internet users? They’re already online, according to an article in Rest of World.
// ?? An article in TechCrunch introduced three incoming EU lawmakers in charge of key tech policy areas in Europe.
// ? Proponents of US legislation that would establish a public AI resource and data hub are making a last-ditch effort to push the plan through Congress, according to an article in Semafor.
Partner news & opportunities
// Virtual book talk: Vanishing Culture
December 3rd at 1pm ET
Join Internet Archive and Authors Alliance for a discussion on Vanishing Culture: A Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record. Explore how shifting digital models and cyber threats endanger access to cultural history and the vital role of libraries in preservation. Register here.
// Virtual event on post-truth, fake news, and democracy
December 4th at 12:30pm ET
Join the Institute for Rebooting Social Media as Johan Farkas discusses the politics of misinformation, based on the 2nd edition of the book Post-Truth, Fake News and Democracy: Mapping the Politics of Falsehood. This conversation will examine fake news’ impact on events like the COVID pandemic and explore democratic alternatives to combating disinformation. Register on Zoom here.
// Empowering parents with research-backed resources
Children and Screens is hosting the “Learn and Explore” resource library, a tool that offers parents evidence-based insights on key issues affecting kids in today’s digital world. Free from tech industry influence, this tool empowers families with trustworthy, research-backed guidance to promote healthy digital habits.
Source: Website
Web Links
- Project Liberty
- Frank McCourt onAir post
- DSNP
- Frequency
- Consensys
- DSNP Wikipedia
- MeWe website
- MeWe Wikipedia
- We are 8 website
- Soar website
- Consensys Wikipedia
- TikTok Bid
DSNP & Frequency
DSNP stands for Decentralized Social Networking Protocol, which is an open protocol and potential standard for social networking and social media. It is not owned or controlled by any one person or company, allowing anyone to build on it or use it. DSNP is stewarded by Project Liberty Institute, a 501(c)(3).
DSNP is an open-source social media protocol designed to decentralize data ownership, allow easier cross-platform interaction, and let users regain control over their personal data. This includes posts, connections, and messages. The decentralized approach allows users to retain ownership of their information and move it between platforms without relying on a single provider.
Frequency is Project Liberty’s implementation of the DSN protocol.
About the Protocol
Source: DSNP Website
10 High-Level DSNP Concepts
- Users are given a numeric ID known as their DSNP User Id which may or may not be linked to or associated with their real-world identity.
- User data is managed and secured via a set of control keys typically connected in a public/private key pair. The control keys are owned and managed solely by the user.
- DSNP is designed to run on a consensus-based system such as a blockchain. This allows the system to be truly decentralized—meaning that users, not system operators, have control and agency over their data, and changes to the state of the system are public and immutable.
- DSNP users can delegate tasks such as managing social connections or submitting posts and content to the applications they use. This means that tasks that require specialized technical knowledge or have associated costs can be performed by service providers acting under the user’s explicit agreement (which the user may revoke at any time).
- User-generated content is handled via Announcements–public or private declarations or directions published to the system.
- Updates or changes to the system are expressed as State Change Records–the observable output of a DSNP system.
- Part of the data stored by each user is their social graph, which contains information about all the public and private relationships between the user and others in the system.
- DSNP is designed to allow users to easily and seamlessly access their social graph and other user-centric data with any compatible application—user data and content is not just portable between applications, but fully interoperable.
- Applications and service providers (those to whom tasks are delegated) compete in an open marketplace for users. This allows users to choose the applications and providers who best serve their needs, and grant or revoke delegations at any time.
- Applications and service providers collect and send Announcements in batches, reducing operational cost and enhancing scalability.
What is a DSNP System?
A DSNP system is a (1) state machine that generates an (2) ongoing, (3) publicly observable and (4) verifiable (5) stream of state change records in response to (6) authenticated public input. To take each of these terms one by one:
- State Machine: The system maintains a consistent, deterministic set of data (state) in response to protocol communications.
- Ongoing: The system runs continually.
- Publicly Observable: System activities are transparent and may be openly viewed by developers, creators and users.
- Verifiable: The authenticity of those sending messages is recorded and can be verified. While these identities may remain pseudonymous, and the real world identity of the user may not be revealed, each account’s activity can be verified to come only from that account.
- Stream of State Change Records: The system produces a continuous log of all changes that occur, such as account Id creation, messages sent, delegation, and so forth.
- Authenticated Public Input: Refers to the open, decentralized nature of DSNP applications, which ensures that users have control and agency over their data.
In social networking terms, one can think of a DSNP system as one that continuously records everything that happens, including the identities of the participants (identity), the relationships they declare to other participants, the messages they send, when they are sent, and who they are for. This is true whether or not that participant is sending data themselves or delegating that task to someone else to do it on their behalf. A DSNP system does its recordkeeping in public, even if some of the data it manages may be private (encrypted).
The DSNP Difference
Source: DSNP.website
How DSNP differs from AT Protocol and ActivityPub, and how DSNP can act as a bridge to create truly decentralized social. by Jeanette Depatie
Economic Viability
One of the main differences between DSNP and AT Protocol/ActivityPub is in the revenue models they can support.
While DSNP is also a 501(c)3-stewarded protocol with charitable donations covering advisor meetings and community communications, DSNP can support any number of revenue models for applications and network participants. App developers may choose any monetization strategy they see fit so long as they clearly and transparently divulge this strategy to would-be users on the platform. At the next level, DSNP end users may choose whatever app provider meets with their personal needs. Thus monetization strategies are both presented and selected in a free-market system which may change to accommodate different market conditions and whatever end users are currently willing to support.
Decentralization
A bridge built between DSNP and ActivityPub and AT Protocol could result in greater decentralization for these two federated systems. DSNP could potentially offer greater data resilience and resistance to censorship.
Data Persistence
It is conceivable that connections built between DSNP, AT Protocol and ActivityPub could result in a hybrid system. This hybrid system could afford greater data persistence and resilience than is currently enjoyed by either of the federated systems.
Censorship
DSNP users are less vulnerable to censorship, as the delegation model allows them to simply elect to share access to their data with any willing application provider. Each of these providers is expected to provide clear instructions regarding their terms of service. And should a user choose to leave one provider or application, the process of moving to another is quite simple. As all important information the user needs to stay connected to their DSNP identity and relationships is stored among all nodes of the system, the user can move from one application to another without fear that their essential data will be lost.
Frequency
Source: Website
Frequency’s Mission
Frequency’s Mission is to provide the infrastructure to empower people by:
Offering everyone a self-sovereign digital social identity that they may use to sign in and share data across the applications they choose.
Allowing people to freely move among applications and providers rather than being forced to accept application changes that worsen their experience.
Offering application providers practical economics that make blockchain usage feasible and desirable.
Securely storing each person’s relationships (social graph) so they are not controlled by any application or company, and can only be accessed with user permission.
Creating an interoperable social media public commons where everyone can participate in the conversation.
Creating a shared and decentralized economy where everyone can participate in the shared value they have created on the internet.
Frequency is a blockchain designed to support decentralized social networks to give people control over their online presence. With Frequency, users can freely choose and connect on social apps while retaining ownership of their data. Built on the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), Frequency offers scalable tools for message discovery, flexible storage for social and identity data, and a unique cost-sharing model that allows apps to deliver smooth, secure experiences that put users in charge.
User Advantages
On most social media platforms, you get a stark choice: accept the platform as is, or leave the platform, your friends and your relationships behind. Frequency changes all of this by offering users control, community, and ownership over their online experience.
Community
Connect with over 1 million users, each in charge of their digital experience.
Create a single Universal Handle, Sign-On and Identity so you can connect, share and engage with audiences across multiple applications through a single identity.
Control
Choose which applications to join and which to leave — you decide who can access your relationships and manage your data.
Hold application providers accountable to the promises they have made you. If they change in a way you don’t like, simply pick another provider.
Ownership
You built your social networks, followers, content, and behavioral data. With Frequency, you get to decide what data is shared and who benefits from its value.
Harness the network effects of your content, data, and relationships in the future economy.
Developer Advantages
Getting started building on Frequency is simple.
Easy
Set up a templated example application with Frequency Gateway in mere minutes.
Economical
Add decentralized social to both new and existing applications in a scalable and economical way with batching and Capacity making blockchain usage predictable.
Open
Build your app with open-source tools designed for a more decentralized environment free from reliance on big tech.
Proven
Access and engage a healthy and growing community of over 1 million users out of the gate as well as a community that has grown to rely on Frequency as proven and tested core infrastructure for their businesses.
Developer Portal
Explore & Build
- Add authentication and onboarding workflows
- Connect with their universal social graph
- Read, write, and interact with social media content
Consensys
Source: Websiite
Consensys is a private blockchain software technology company founded by Joseph Lubin and based in Fort Worth. Consensys is involved in many different projects and services for blockchain uses and applications.
A complete suite of products to create and participate in web3
MetaMask
MetaMask is the leading self-custodial wallet for over 100 million users annually. MetaMask is everything you need to manage your identity, digital assets and to explore web3. Available as a browser extension and mobile app.
MetaMask Developer
Start building today with MetaMask developer tools: connect your app to MetaMask with our SDK, test new features in Flask, and extend MetaMask core functionality with Snaps.
Infura
Infura is the original platform for web3 development, giving developers access to a robust, reliable, and integrated set of tools to easily build and scale their decentralized applications.
Linea
Linea is an EVM equivalent zkEVM rollup offering fast finality, high throughput, low gas fees and the security of Ethereum settlement. Projects across web3 are building with Linea to unlock new capabilities without compromising the security and developer experience of L1 Ethereum.
Apps
MeWe
Source: Website
The world’s largest decentralized social network
We are a privacy-first social network with over 20 million users worldwide and more than 700,000 interest groups that is committed to giving our users control, protecting their data and providing a great user experience. MeWe contains no ads, no targeting, and no newsfeed manipulation. It is available on iOS, Android and desktop in more than 20 languages and over 200 countries worldwide.
Our journey began in New Mexico in 2011 when co-founders Mark Weinstein and Jonathan Wolfe began dreaming of the next generation of social media. The duo were disillusioned with big-tech’s disregard for personal privacy and its willingness to target, track and sell our data. They envisioned a new experience built on safety and respect and one that would bring people together while making social networking fun again. After several years of testing and a public beta, MeWe was officially launched at the SXSW
Interactive Media festival in 2016 where we were honored as a finalist for their ever “Innovative World Technology” award.
In the years that followed we continued to refine both our free and subscription offerings while staying true to our ethos of privacy and user control. In March 2021 long time entertainment and technology executive Jeffrey Edell was named Chairman and CEO. Under Edell’s leadership we made considerable progress in improving our user experience, growing our membership and doubling down on our privacy-first message.
In 2022, we made the strategic decision to move to the blockchain and incorporate the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), an open internet protocol released by the Project Liberty Foundation. The foundation, launched in 2021 by Frank McCourt, and Frequency Labs, is part of the $500 million Project Liberty initiative, aimed at creating a better internet and a healthier digital ecosystem. DSNP has the potential to transform the internet by liberating social networking functionality from closed, proprietary platforms and integrating this functionality into the web itself.
With this move we put MeWe’s ethos into code and are completely solidifying our commitment to user protection and control.
We were honored again by SXSW in 2024 as a finalist for their Social Media Innovation Award and as of March have more than 670,000 active users on the blockchain, making MeWe the largest truly decentralized social network in the world.
MeWe has been supported by some of the most respected figures in tech, media/entertainment and finance, including Sir Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web), Steve Wozniak (co-founder of Apple), Divya Narendra (co-founder of Harvard Connection), Gavin Wood / Bjorn Wagner (co-founders of Polkadot/Parity / Web3 Foundation) and Frank McCourt (founder / chairman of McCourt Global & Project Liberty).
We are 8
WeAre8, founded by tech entrepreneur Zoe Kalar, is a transformational social media platform designed to provide a healthier digital home for humanity. WeAre8 and the Frequency Network Foundation partner to Ignite a People-First Social Media Revolution (press release).
The People’s Platform
WeAre8, founded by tech entrepreneur Zoe Kalar, is a transformational social media platform designed to provide a healthier digital home for humanity.
People are protected from toxic content, your followers actually see your posts (no controlling algorithms), and everyone benefits because the money made from advertisers on WeAre8 is shared with people, communities, charities, and planet-saving projects. It’s more than just a platform—it’s a movement towards economic liberation that shifts the power of big tech back into the hands of the people. To learn more, visit www.WeAre8.com.
Soar
Source: PR Newswire
SOAR.com strengthens commitment to individual privacy and control by implementing the Frequency Blockchain and the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), both developed and supported by Project Liberty in collaboration with Frequency Network Foundation. This infrastructure provides secure, decentralized access to services, giving users control over their data.
Today, SOAR.com announced plans to integrate with the Frequency blockchain, a groundbreaking move that will allow people to protect their private data while accessing cutting edge AI solutions. The plan leverages revolutionary internet infrastructure developed by the Frequency Network Foundation and Project Liberty.
In an era when data has become currency, people are tired of having their information stolen or co-opted by big platforms. SOAR.com’s Family Portal and Citizen Portal will serve as cornerstones of a secure, decentralized AI ecosystem where people can keep control over their data. SOAR.com will be a key element of a new digital landscape that finally puts people over platforms.
TikTok
Source: Website
About Us
In April 2024, President Biden signed a law that would ban TikTok in the United States unless it is sold within a year. Project Liberty, an initiative dedicated to building a better internet, is organizing a broad consortium of technologists, investors, community leaders, and creators to purchase the platform. The People’s Bid for TikTok is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Americans to reclaim their digital identities and have a voice, choice, and stake in the future of the internet.
The People’s Bid offers an innovative alternative to the challenges of today’s social media. We plan to migrate TikTok to new digital infrastructure that prioritizes privacy and gives users control over their data – along with more opportunities to share in the economic value they create online. The core TikTok user experience would remain the same, but people – not corporations, governments, or algorithms – would have the agency to shape their digital experience.
The People’s Bid has received broad support from leading technologists, investors, and policymakers. Many of the best minds in these fields are contributing to our vision for a safer, healthier TikTok.
A reimagined TikTok can serve as the blueprint for tomorrow’s internet. Join The People’s Bid by adding your name to the pledge today.
More Information
DSNP Wikipedia
Distributed Social Networking Protocol (DSNP) is an open-source social media protocol designed to decentralize data ownership to allow for easier cross-platform interaction, including posts, connections, and messages.
Decentralization allows users to retain ownership of their information and move it between platforms without being beholder to a single provider.[1] This interoperability enables users to manage their profiles and social connections seamlessly, contrasting with traditional centralized social media platforms.
Interoperability is a key feature of the Distributed Social Networking Protocol, altering how users interact within digital social environments.[2] Unlike traditional social media models, DSNP enables individuals to interact across different platforms seamlessly, without the need to create and manage multiple accounts. This approach eliminates the separation of users within isolated platform ecosystems.
Unlike centralized platforms that confine users and their data to a single environment, DSNP offers a framework for open digital interactions. It allows users to maintain a consistent social identity across multiple applications, enabling seamless social activities beyond the limitations of proprietary systems.
The Distributed Social Networking Protocol (DSNP) emphasizes privacy and security by offering users detailed control over their personal information. It functions on an application-agnostic model, similar to the SMTP protocol for email, encouraging the development of interoperable applications. Using encryption and permission-based access systems, DSNP ensures that users determine who can view and interact with their data, supporting their ability to manage their digital presence.
DSNP has emerged as a compelling alternative to traditional social media, with distributed networks like Bluesky and Mastodon gaining significant traction. These platforms have attracted users seeking alternatives to centralized social media, particularly those disillusioned with platforms like X (formerly Twitter).
The growing adoption reflects a broader shift towards decentralized social networking, where users prioritize data ownership, privacy, and cross-platform interoperability. Platforms like Bluesky, which uses the AT Protocol, and Mastodon, which utilizes ActivityPub, exemplify this trend by offering users more control over their digital social experiences and challenging the traditional centralized social media model.[3]
See also
References
- ^ “DSNP – Decentralized Social Networking Protocol”. dsnp.org. Retrieved 2024-12-24.
- ^ “Reimagining Social Media: The Promise of Distributed Social Networking Protocol (DSNP)”. Social Media. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ “Decentralized Social Media Models: Comparing Bluesky’s AT Protocol and Mastodon’s ActivityPub”. Technology. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
External links
- DSNP: Distributed Social Networking Protocol Archived 2020-02-29 at the Wayback Machine
- Mailing list archive
- GitHub repository
MeWe Wikipedia
MeWe is a global social media and social networking service. As a company based in Los Angeles, California it is also known as Sgrouples, Inc., doing business as MeWe. The site has been described as a Facebook alternative due to its focus on data privacy.[2][3][4][5][6]
In 2022, MeWe announced it will migrate its platform over time to a blockchain-based system, becoming the first major social network to migrate its tech over to the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), which will make it the largest decentralized social media platform.[3]
Platform
Features
In March 2020, MeWe launched dual-camera videos, which allow for both inward (“selfie”) and outward-facing camera views.[7] MeWe also touts its “Privacy Bill of Rights” as the primary differentiator between it and Facebook.[8]
By 2015, as MeWe neared the end of its beta testing cycle, the press called MeWe’s software “not dissimilar to Facebook“.[6] In 2020, Mashable described MeWe as replicating Facebook’s features.[4]
The MeWe site and application has features common to most social media and social networking sites: users can post text and images to a feed, react to others’ posts using emoji, post animated GIFs, create specialized groups, post disappearing content, and chat.[9]
Online chat may occur between two or more people or among members of a group.[9] Person-to-person online chat is similar to that in most other social media and social networking sites, and supports text, video calling, and voice calling.[10] No longer a product offering, “Secret Chat” is limited to the paid subscription tier of MeWe,[11] and uses double ratchet encryption to ensure that chats are private and not visible even to MeWe employees.[9]
MeWe reported in June 2018 that the site had 90,000 active groups, 60,000 of which were “public” and open to all users.[11] Following the influx of Hong Kong users in 2020, MeWe’s former CEO, Mark Weinstein,[12] announced that the website would provide a Traditional Chinese language version by the end of the year.[13]
User base and content
United States
Although MeWe has not intentionally positioned itself as a social network for conservatives,[4][14] Mashable noted in November 2020 that its active userbase trends conservative.[4] The platform’s choice not to moderate misinformation on the platform has attracted conservatives who felt mainstream social networks were censoring their posts, and those who have been banned from those platforms.[4][14][15] MeWe is considered an alt-tech platform.[16][17]
MeWe’s loose moderation has made it popular among conspiracy theorists, including proponents of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, which was banned from Facebook in 2020, and the “Stop the Steal” conspiracy theory relating to the 2020 United States presidential election.[4][14][15][18] According to Rolling Stone, MeWe has “played host to general interest communities related to music and travel, but it has also come to be a haven for anti-vaxxers, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and, as reported by OneZero, far-right militia groups.”[14] Vice has described MeWe as a “major anti-vaxx forum”.[19] BBC News has described some of the content on MeWe as “extreme” and compared it to that of Gab.[20] Business Insider has reported that some of the most popular groups on MeWe focus on “extreme views, like anti-vaccine rhetoric, white supremacy, and conspiracy theories” and that in 2020 the platform was used to organize anti-lockdown protests.[15][21][22] According to Megan Squire, groups belonging to the Boogaloo movement began using the platform after their removal from Facebook.[22]
Shortly after the 2020 United States presidential election, MeWe and other alt-tech platforms experienced a wave of signups from Trump supporters, following crackdowns on election-related misinformation and promotion of violence on mainstream social networks.[23][24] On November 11, MeWe was the second-most downloaded free app on the Apple App Store, behind its fellow alt-tech social network Parler.[4] However, Mashable noted MeWe’s practice of creating accounts on behalf of users and businesses who were not users of the site may have served to inflate the amount of activity on the platform.[4] MeWe and other alt-tech networks again spiked in popularity shortly after the January 6, 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, though this subsided shortly after, with downloads falling more than 80% from January to February 2021.[25]
On January 22, 2021, MeWe’s CEO said in an interview with NPR that “MeWe is serious about putting limits on what people can say” and that he does not like sites where “anything goes”, describing such sites as “disgusting”. He also said that MeWe would be hiring more moderation staff. In the coverage, NPR noted that MeWe’s stated rules are still “more lax than Facebook and Twitter,” and that MeWe had not yet banned groups dedicated to QAnon.[26]
Hong Kong
Due to concerns surrounding possible pro-China censorship of Facebook, the site also gained popularity in Hong Kong in November 2020.[27]
MeWe gained popularity in Hong Kong in November 2020, with users migrating from Facebook due to concerns with possible pro-China censorship and moderation.[27][28] The popularity of MeWe in Hong Kong has been attributed to the city’s suspicion of any restraint on free speech, after the Chinese government imposed significant restrictions on the expression of dissent following the 2019–20 protests, including the Hong Kong national security law. MeWe communities in Hong Kong generally reflect everyday-life interests, with social media consultants in Hong Kong reporting that they have not seen extremist content in the communities they manage.[29]
Reception
In a 2015 review of the beta MeWe service, British writer John Leonard called MeWe “well-designed and pretty intuitive”, but questioned whether the company’s business model was a viable one.[6] Andrew Orr, reviewing the site in April 2018, felt that service was a good one but that it did not have any advantages over existing social media sites. That, he felt, would make it difficult for MeWe to attract users.[10] In late 2020, the site also gained popularity in Hong Kong due to concerns surrounding possible pro-China censorship of Facebook.[27] MeWe takes a relatively light approach to content moderation according to some sources.[4][14][19]
In 2022, MeWe announced it will migrate its platform over time to a Web3, blockchain-based web infrastructure using Project Liberty’s DSNP and Frequency protocol, which will run on the Polkadot Blockchain Network, and make MeWe the largest decentralized social media platform.[3]
Business
The MeWe business model does not rely on advertising revenue; rather, MeWe generates revenue from MeWe Premium subscriptions and from users purchasing premium enhancements a-la-carte such as a live voice / live video calling, extra storage, custom emojis, and custom themes.[9][10][30]
MeWe emphasizes its commitment to privacy and remaining ad-free.[4][11] MeWe has said they will never use cookies or spyware to generate content about users, and that it will not track user activity in any way or sell user data to a third party.[6][9] MeWe has described itself as the “anti-Facebook” due to its focus on data privacy, lack of moderation, and simple newsfeed algorithm.[5] MeWe had 20 million registered users.[31]
Advisors to MeWe include computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, SumZero CEO and co-founder of HarvardConnection Divya Narendra, and filmmaker Cullen Hoback.[32][33][34]
In 1998, entrepreneur Mark Weinstein and Jonathan Wolfe[35] established SuperGroups.com, a social media website. The site was closed by its largest investor in 2001.[36] Gathering largely the same leadership team, Weinstein incorporated Sgrouples Inc. in 2011.[4][36][37] MeWe was incorporated as a subsidiary of Sgrouples,[37] and based in Culver City, California.[11] Over the next six years, Sgrouples raised about $10 million from investors including lynda.com founder Lynda Weinman, fashion designer Rachel Roy, and authors Jack Canfield and Marci Shimoff.[9][11]
MeWe finished its initial financing round in July 2018 by raising $5.2 million in new funds.[9][11] The company began work on upgrading MeWe and initiating work on an enterprise version called MeWePRO.[9]
In December 2019, MeWe launched “MeWe Premium”, an optional $4.99 per month subscription that gives users a bundle of enhancements including: live voice / live video calling; unlimited custom themes; unlimited custom emojis and stickers; video journals for stories; 100GB of MeWe Cloud Storage; and more.[9][30][38]
In September 2022, CEO & Chairman Jeffrey Scott Edell of MeWe announced that it had raised $27 million in a Series A round led by private company McCourt Global, which contributed $15 million. Existing investors contributed another $12 million—this round values MeWe at approximately $200 million. Mark Weinstein was a founder of MeWe and its CEO until April 2021. Jeffrey Scott Edell became the company’s CEO and was named as Chairman in 2022.[12][30]
References
- ^ “MeWe® Appoints Jeffrey Edell as New CEO”. PRNewswire. April 12, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2022 – via Yahoo Finance.
- ^ Johnson, Arianna (2022-09-13). “Facebook Alternative MeWe Raises $27 Million To Help It Become A Household Name”. Forbes. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
- ^ a b c Fischer, Sara (2022-09-20). “Facebook alternative MeWe to join Project Liberty protocol”. Axios. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Binder, Matt (November 11, 2020). “What is MeWe? Everything you need to know about the social network competing with Parler”. Mashable. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
- ^ a b Graham, Jefferson (July 4, 2020). “Done with Facebook? Consider MeWe, Parler or old standbys such as LinkedIn”. USA Today. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Leonard, John (April 14, 2015). “Social media without the snooping—nice idea but can it really work?”. Computing. Archived from the original on January 22, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ “Social Media Platform ‘MeWe’ Launches Dual-Camera Videos”. The Mac Observer. 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
- ^ Murphy, Coral (2021-01-20). “Facebook rival MeWe gains 2.5M members in a week as users seek privacy”. USA Today. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Chen, I-Chun (July 5, 2018). “Facebook alternative MeWe raises $5.2 million in funds”. L.A. Biz. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ a b c Orr, Andrew (April 19, 2018). “Review: MeWe is a Private Social Network Taking on Facebook”. Mac Observer. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f Amore, Samson (July 7, 2018). “Facebook Alternative MeWe Raises $5.2M”. Los Angeles Business Journal. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ^ a b Spangler, Todd (2021-04-12). “MeWe Names Hollywood Veteran Jeffrey Edell CEO of Zero-Advertising Social Media Service”. Variety. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
- ^ “Tai Po大埔12萬人Facebook群組一夜被滅 稱涉仇恨言論 網民籲轉場MeWe”. Apple Daily 蘋果日報 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Archived from the original on 2021-01-18. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
- ^ a b c d e Dickson, E. J. (November 12, 2020). “‘Free Speech’ Social-Media Apps See Enormous Growth After the Election”. Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
- ^ a b c Leskin, Paige (November 6, 2020). “Trump supporters are flocking to alternative social networks to plan election-office protests after Facebook banned groups that attracted hundreds of thousands of members”. Business Insider. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
- ^ Wilson, Jason (January 13, 2021). “Rightwingers flock to ‘alt tech’ networks as mainstream sites ban Trump”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on January 15, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
- ^ Cohen, Jason (January 15, 2021). “How Mainstream Social Media Data Collection Compares With Alt-Tech Rivals”. PC Magazine. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
- ^ O’Sullivan, Donie (6 October 2020). “Three years later, Facebook says it will ban QAnon”. CNN. Archived from the original on 6 January 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
- ^ a b Gilbert, David (November 12, 2020). “Conservative Social Media Sites Are Creating a Giant Right-Wing Echo Chamber”. Vice. Archived from the original on January 16, 2021. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
- ^ “Parler ‘free speech’ app tops charts in wake of Trump defeat”. BBC News. November 9, 2020. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
- ^ Leskin, Paige (May 3, 2020). “Anti-quarantine protesters are being kicked off Facebook and quickly finding refuge on a site loved by conspiracy theorists”. Business Insider. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ^ a b McKay, Tom (February 24, 2021). “Your Travel Guide to the Rudderless Right-Wing Web After Trump”. Gizmodo. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
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I don’t like sites that are anything goes,” Weinstein said. “I think they’re disgusting. Good people right and left and middle can’t handle ‘anything goes.’ We don’t want to be around hate speech. We don’t want to be around violence inciters.
- ^ a b c 嚴熹曼 (2020-11-20). “MeWe懶人包｜不似Facebook多廣告、有審查 MeWe十個功能特點比較｜科技玩物”. 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
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Consensys Wikipedia
Consensys is a private blockchain software technology company founded by Joseph Lubin and based in Fort Worth.
History
Joseph Lubin founded ConsenSys AG in early 2015 as a software foundry to develop decentralized software services and applications that operate on the Ethereum blockchain.[2][3] On October 31, 2018, ConsenSys acquired Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining company.[4] In December 2018, ConsenSys announced a restructuring with projected layoffs of thirteen percent of its 1,200 staff,[5][6] and in February 2020 announced the layoffs of a further 14% of staff.[7] In 2020, ConsenSys AG spun out [8] several of its infrastructure projects into a separate company, Consensys Software Inc. (now commonly simply referred to as “Consensys”). ConsenSys AG rebranded as Consensys Mesh the same year. In August 2020, Consensys acquired banking blockchain platform Quorum from JPMorgan Chase & Co. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.[9] In November 2021, Consensys raised $200 million at $3.2 billion valuation from Animoca Brands, Coinbase Ventures and HSBC among others.[10] In March 2022, Consensys raised $450 million in a new round led by ParaFi Capital, with Microsoft, SoftBank, and Temasek also joining as new investors in the company.[11] In June 2023, Consensys launched a brand refresh where they introduced a new company narrative, logo, and an updating of the name to remove the camelcase from ConsenSys to Consensys.
Projects
Consensys is involved in many different projects and services for blockchain uses and applications.
MetaMask is an Ethereum wallet application which allows users to store and transfer cryptocurrencies and tokens, as well as access and interact with decentralized applications built on the Ethereum blockchain. The software was originally MIT-licensed as open source on desktops as a browser extension, but was relicensed in 2020 under a custom proprietary license.[12] It can also be used through a proprietary mobile app.[13]
Infura is a blockchain node infrastructure service that allows apps and developers to get data from, and broadcast transactions to, the Ethereum blockchain. Infura’s network is used as a backend for Ethereum services and applications, including MetaMask and many others not associated with Consensys.[14][15]
The company has started or invested in several different projects that are not considered to be core to their business, have been spun out into more independent entities, or are not wholly owned by Consensys.[5][6] Some of these include Meridio, a platform used to create, manage, and trade fractional-share ownership in real estate assets, and Gnosis Safe, a platform for managing digital assets securely on ethereum.[16][17][5][18][19]
ICOs
Civil Media, a Consensys-backed company that claims to use cryptocurrency to save journalism sold CVL tokens to the public in an ICO in October 2018. Civil was able to raise $1.8 million, less than the $8 million soft cap.[20]
It was later revealed that Consensys was the largest buyer of CVL tokens, buying 80% of the CVL tokens that went on sale.[21]
Controversies
Consensys has been involved in multiple controversies and lawsuits. These include a High Court challenge in Ireland against the ruling of the Workplace Relations Commission.[16] Separately, the 2020 sale of MetaMask and other assets from its Swiss parent company to its US entity has been litigated over alleged irregularities in corporate governance.[22] On June 28, 2024 the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that they had charged Consensys with engaging in the unregistered offer and sale of securities through MetaMask Staking, and operating as an unregistered broker through MetaMask Staking and MetaMask Swaps.[23] In an attempt to preempt the SEC’s suit, on April 25, 2024 Consensys had sued the SEC and its commissioners in the Northern District of Texas asking the court to declare that MetaMask Swaps does not make Consensys a broker-dealer; MetaMask Staking is not an offering of securities; and that Ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, is not a security.[24]
References
- ^ “About us”. ConsenSys. Archived from the original on 2018-01-16. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
- ^ Tapscott, Don; Tapscott, Alex (May 2016). The Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin is Changing Money, Business, and the World. pp. 87–93, 112–114. ISBN 978-0670069972.
- ^ Popper, Nathaniel (2016-03-27). “Ethereum, a Virtual Currency, Enables Transactions That Rival Bitcoin’s”. The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
- ^ “ConsenSys Acquires Planetary Resources”. Planetary Resources. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
- ^ a b c Kauflin, Jeff. “Cryptopia In Crisis: Joe Lubin’s Ethereum Experiment Is A Mess. How Long Will He Prop It Up?”. Forbes. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
- ^ a b “ConsenSys plans to spin out most of its startups, and it’s going to mean layoffs”. 20 December 2018.
- ^ “Major blockchain developer ConsenSys announces job losses”. Reuters. 4 February 2020.
- ^ Insights, Ledger (2020-02-05). “ConsenSys restructures, spins off venturing business”. Ledger Insights – blockchain for enterprise. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
- ^ Irrera, Anna (2020-08-25). “ConsenSys acquires JPMorgan’s blockchain platform Quorum”. Reuters. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
- ^ “Ethereum Infrastructure Company ConsenSys Raises $200 Million at $3.2 Billion Valuation”. Forbes.
- ^ Browne, Ryan (15 March 2022). “Microsoft dives into Web3 with investment in Ethereum co-founder’s start-up ConsenSys”. CNBC.
- ^ Dan Finlay (August 20, 2020). “Evolving our License for the Next Wave of MetaMask Users”. Consensys. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
- ^ “MetaMask’s Blockchain Mobile App Opens Doors For Next-Level Web”. Bloomberg.com. 2020-09-02. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
- ^ Stephen, Bijan (2018-12-20). “ConsenSys plans to spin out most of its startups, and it’s going to mean layoffs”. The Verge. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
- ^ Perez, Yessi Bello (2019-10-04). “ConsenSys acquires Infura, the centralizing tech powering Ethereum dapps”. Hard Fork | The Next Web. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
- ^ a b “ConsenSys challenges WRC finding in redundancy case”. RTÉ. 2022-08-12.
- ^ “Safe”. safe.global. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
- ^ Miller, Stuart (25 May 2018). “A Blockchain Building in Bushwick”. The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
- ^ Shieber, Jonathan (2015-10-28). “Microsoft Partners With ConsenSys To Use Ethereum To Provide Blockchain-As-A-Service”. TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
- ^ “Blockchain media startup Civil is issuing full refunds to all buyers of its cryptocurrency”. TechCrunch. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
- ^ “ConsenSys bought most of the CVL tokens in Civil Media’s disappointing ICO — Quartz”. qz.com. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-18.
- ^ Scheckinger, Ben (December 19, 2022). “Legal fight over ownership of Web3 heats up”. Politico. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
- ^ “SEC Charges Consensys Software for Unregistered Offers and Sales of Securities Through Its MetaMask Staking Service” (Press release). Securities and Exchange Commission. June 28, 2024. Archived from the original on June 29, 2024. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
- ^ Saini, Manya (April 26, 2024). “Crypto firm Consensys sues US SEC over Ethereum regulation”. Reuters. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
External links
