On Mexican TV, assassination target of jailed disinformation merchant Fernando Cerimedo explains how he worked with the Bolsonaros and Meta to reduce Lula’s visibility on its platforms
I agree, but those base technologies are not currently a replacement for WhatsApp. We should have been funding development and integration of a social stack 5 years ago.
It’ll need seamless payment and identity validation functionality, and significant user experience and reliability work before it can be a replacement. That all has to be in place before implementation which is a separate major challenge
I mentioned that because as I understand it, WhatsApp is so inescapable due to being used for purchases. I don’t have first hand knowledge but if it was just a discord clone it wouldn’t have the lock in.
Canada developed the Interac system long before Credit Cards and PayPal. Granted, it hasn’t had the development resources it deserves, but it’s light-years ahead of any other independent model. “Inescapable” is a choice, not an inevitability.
I use them myself, and i guarantee that they’re not a viable alternative, because the average person finds them very hard to use
When I mention this, people around foss communities often say “oh, but it’s like email”
Exactly! People don’t know how to use email!
For some chat app to be a viable replacement, it needs to register by phone number, without passwords, and find all your contacts automatically. The closest we have is signal, but the server isn’t open source, and its nonprofit group is tied to the usa
Matrix is good, but has some serious convenience issues around authenticating new devices. And locking messages on public group chats if resetting your “recovery key”.
The replacement exists¹. The problem is making people use it.
¹ Matrix and XMPP.
I agree, but those base technologies are not currently a replacement for WhatsApp. We should have been funding development and integration of a social stack 5 years ago.
It’ll need seamless payment and identity validation functionality, and significant user experience and reliability work before it can be a replacement. That all has to be in place before implementation which is a separate major challenge
Payment is something completely different. It doesn’t need it.
I mentioned that because as I understand it, WhatsApp is so inescapable due to being used for purchases. I don’t have first hand knowledge but if it was just a discord clone it wouldn’t have the lock in.
If people in your country use watsapp for purchases, you have 2 different problems, that you need to solve independently.
Canada developed the Interac system long before Credit Cards and PayPal. Granted, it hasn’t had the development resources it deserves, but it’s light-years ahead of any other independent model. “Inescapable” is a choice, not an inevitability.
I use them myself, and i guarantee that they’re not a viable alternative, because the average person finds them very hard to use
When I mention this, people around foss communities often say “oh, but it’s like email”
Exactly! People don’t know how to use email!
For some chat app to be a viable replacement, it needs to register by phone number, without passwords, and find all your contacts automatically. The closest we have is signal, but the server isn’t open source, and its nonprofit group is tied to the usa
Matrix is good, but has some serious convenience issues around authenticating new devices. And locking messages on public group chats if resetting your “recovery key”.