The Matrix has you... - 14/02/2026 Blog Entry
Welcome to a new blog! This time we will follow up on my previous It's DiscordOver - 10/02/2026 Blog
Entry. Now that the initial shock cleared and everyone made their move, we have enough
information to decide
what to do in regard to Discord's new age verification policies. Let's get started!
First, many of the fears that I exposed on my previous blog were confirmed to be true. My first fear
was that
Discord was using AI to scan everyone's messages in order to decide who gets an age verification
request, they
confirmed it on this
tweet. My second
fear was that the retrieved data would be used to assist governments in order to persecute people.
Well, we are one
step away, because Discord's age
verification rollout has ties to Palantir co-founder and panopticon architect Peter Thiels.
Uh Oh.
Aside the government and AI, Discord is irresponsible with your data. They have a bad track
record and they
could and will leak your information to all sorts of bad actors, like Russian hackers. For example,
all messages
on Discord are not encrypted, check out this article for more information: Discord
end-to-end
encryption: Can you turn it on?
Discord also has a massive presence of phishing scammers and people distributing malware, more
often than not
luring people in thanks to the Nitro feature set. And if you think that wasn't enough, check out
Discord's damage
control when
their users get their personal information leaked online...
It is time to move on.
Welcome to The Matrix
I checked all the available options, and the one that convinced me the most is Matrix. In case you want to see what else is available, at the risk of going clinically insane, check out Discordless. I recommend that you watch the following videos on Matrix, regardless if you continue reading this blog.
Now, what is Matrix? It is an open-source, decentralized protocol for chat communication (like
Email, but for chat, literally). That short phrase tells us a lot.
What this means is that everyone owns Matrix, as you can contribute code to it (open source) and run
Matrix without depending on a big tech database cloud server (decentralized). This makes Matrix the
most
privacy Discord-like program that currently exists. Matrix is also engineered to get a power boost
the more servers run it, as it uses a wide variety of behind-the-scenes tricks to smoothen things
out for users while being more efficient than running everything on one big singular cloud.
Matrix has two very interesting quirks that shape this program's usage.
First, it has no interface. Before you run away, what this means is that YOU pick what interface to
use, depending
on what your needs are. For example, you can chat on Matrix by using your 3DS as the interface. Even
with that
freedom, Matrix.org goes out of its way to develop their official client. Element is the best interface for anyone
starting out using Matrix, regardless of
device. There is no need
to use other clients unless you require other features; for example, I use NeoChat on my laptop because it is more
lightweight on system resources. Another interface
to keep in mind is Cinny, as it looks very close to
Discord and it is one of the most polished ones.
The second quirk is security. Matrix enforces chat encryption whenever possible (person to person,
small groups), and it forces account authentication on your device in order to keep things secure.
If
you log in, overwriting your security information, it will delete a lot of crucial information for
security.
Unlike other programs, aside from asking a password on account creation, Matrix gives you a passkey
you need to save in order to verify your device. Another option to verify your device is to do an
easy
"do the emoji match" question with another device that has your account logged in. Don't skip
proper security when you install Matrix.
The last and most important thing to keep in mind is to pick a location for your account. Due to the
decentralized
nature of Matrix, you need to pick a server for your account to live in. All Matrix interfaces
default you into
using Matrix.org, the official one. That is generally okay, but due to the current censorship-heavy
climate, it is
best to lean into the decentralized features and use a less populated client.
This is what Matrix recommends in their latest blog post, Welcoming Discord users
amidst the challenge of Age Verification. Be warned, the Matrix.org instance will do some
form of age verification too due to UK law!
The best thing is that you check out Public Matrix Homeservers for one that fits your needs. Remember, you need to follow the rules and legislation of your server of choice. The one that I am currently using is Unredacted.org, as they are very open about their mission and determined to not let their users be victims of goverments. In fact, they provided some extra legal information about age verification on this post: The UK Online Safety Act & age verification.
Some bonus things. If you are looking for spaces to frequent inside Matrix, check out MatrixRooms.info
A Bright Future
Discord is a Monopoly. Discord is the only one with all the features and polish that users want, and that is why it grew so big. To decide, we need to look at the future.
What do you think Discord will look like in 5 years..? Even worse, got it. I thought so as well. Nobody knows what they will do, but expect bad things; it will get worse. They will see that the population is powerless, and they will punish us.
Now look at Matrix's future. It looks a lot better. Let me explain why.
There are countless developers working behind the scenes to make it better. You can go right now
into the Matrix
Specification Proposals and see many of the new features that are in the works. Some of
these include custom emoji & stickers, app theming & screensharing. I can guarantee you that Matrix
will get
Easier, Better, Faster, Stronger in 5 years. And you know the best thing? The more people are
interested in using it, the faster it will grow!
If you want to see a bright future, please Support Matrix.
We have around 20 days before Discord rolls their changes out and it could be catastrophic. I am
hard
at work to
migrate my small Discord server dedicated to retro things, Galactica Arcadia
over to Matrix and to convince many other friend groups of mine that this is the correct path.
I am decided and my hand won't tremble if I have to leave many people behind. You only have one ID,
but you can have many new friends.
If you happen to use Discord, what will you do about this? What's on your mind? The clock is
ticking.
Thank you for reading this blog.
