The need for decentralised messaging

Decentralised messaging is needed—now.

Messaging on the internet is an essential part of modern life, it’s a digital public good. Its importance to the functioning of our global and local communities cannot be overstated. Time and time again, we are reminded how fragile centralised institutions can be—whether it’s just one person, a company, or a state government. It is not normal, acceptable, or sustainable for a handful of companies to hold central control over messaging on the internet. 

For various reasons, there is a degree of distrust toward more or less every messaging solution under the sun. Trusted or not, messengers themselves—including the companies running them and the encryption securing them—are under increasing pressure. 

We do not need a new alternative, we need a new paradigm.

We need messaging without promises. Messaging that does not ask for trust. Messaging that is decentralised.

Decentralised means that no one person, company, or group controls:

• The fate of the product or protocol (i.e. if the party disappears, the protocol continues)

• The infrastructure required to operate the protocol

• The data of the protocol’s users

This is easier said than done, of course. There needs to be diversity of network operators and protocol contributors, self-governance of the network, and incentives to ensure sufficient physical infrastructure provisions. Additionally, the end-client should not need special user configuration to benefit from the decentralisation, introducing further challenges.

The good news is, such decentralised ecosystems—like Session—already exist, work well, and are being actively improved upon.

Why decentralise messaging?

Decentralisation is often exalted for its advantages, but it also has its drawbacks. Not everything is worth decentralising, nor does everything suit decentralisation. However, given the importance of messaging, it’s certainly worth bothering with the hassle of decentralisation—as long as it provides advantages. 

Decentralisation has key advantages in privacy and resilience, both of which are relevant to messaging. 

Privacy

Privacy matters. It is a basic right. Conversations which are had in private let us express truly, explore safely, and share confidently. On the contrary, atrocities often follow in the footsteps of limitations on private communication. It is a matter of basic rights and dignity—private communication should be respected.

Whether through malice or neglect, centralised services have repeatedly failed to uphold or respect people’s privacy. Messaging requires stronger protections—protection which decentralisation can contribute to. 

By distributing personal data through a decentralised network, no one individual or entity has the means to collect and exploit personal data. This also has the positive knock-on effect of preventing the data from being exploited by would-be hacks. 

However, privacy has its opponents. There may be efforts to undermine or displace private platforms in the future.

Resilience

Anything with a single point of failure is vulnerable. Whether it’s a blown fuse or a burst water main, one thing going wrong can jeopardise the entire system. In this case, centralisation creates vulnerabilities which can affect people’s access to a core internet service—messaging. 

Companies can run out of money, support, or lose vision. Key leaders can move on or lose interest. When everything hinges on too few—a lot can go wrong. A lot of the complexity with decentralised solutions is front-loaded—bootstrapping the network, building a great user experience, and generating community momentum are each enormously challenging. 

However, once the system is operational, automation kicks in and it just…goes. Sure, there will still be bumps in the road—but the ecosystem is equipped with a protocol, network, and community that can rally to resolve challenges.

As the system becomes more decentralised, transparent, and autonomous, the likelihood of a black swan event decreases. In the case of critical services like messaging, this is enormously valuable.

It’s yours

Press the stop button on the revolving door of centralised messaging apps. Support the switch. Try a decentralised messaging app, like Session. Help your friends swap, too. Maybe even run infrastructure for a decentralised network. 

This movement is driven by people just like you. Nobody does everything, but everyone can do something.