Matrix, the protocol which might finally make messaging apps interoperable

Interoperability and centralization Tech’s major themes this year were regulation, social and industrial pressure, as well as increasing regulation. hype trains that are crypto and web3. The rising tide is lifting other boats: an Open Standards-Based Communication Protocol called Matrix This is a key role in interoperability for another part of our digital lives, messaging.

The Matrix network’s total number of users doubled in size this yearMatthew Hodgson is one of Matrix’s cocreators. This is a noteworthy, but modest, rise to 80.3 million users.

Although the majority of this activity has been focused on enterprise communications, it seems that mainstream consumer platforms are now taking note.

Some sleuthing Jane Manchun Wong, an engineer and app researcher, discovered evidence that Reddit was testing Matrix for its Chat feature. This is more or less what TechCrunch confirmed to Reddit. While a spokesperson claimed that Reddit is “looking at many ways to improve Reddit’s conversations” and “testing several options,” they didn’t name Matrix.

Because of the greater support for interoperability — it is also happening in digital wallets And maps Matrix offers a more detailed look into how we got to this point.

The beginning

Mobile phones held by the above-mentioned hands can be seen Image Credits: Malte Mueller / Getty

Anyone who’s ever sent an email or text message will have no idea what service provider, network or messaging client the intended recipient was using. It doesn’t really matter – T-Mobile customers and Verizon customers can text one another just fine, while Gmail users and Outlook users are able to email each other with no problem.

However, this wasn’t always true. You could only communicate with people on the same network in the early days of electronic mail. As mobile phones grew in popularity throughout the 1990s people couldn’t text their friends if they were using a different network. Europe and Asia led interoperability efforts, and the major North American telcos were following suit. realized they could unlock a veritable goldmine If they allowed users to message their friends on other networks, it would be a win-win situation. It was a win-win situation for everyone.

Now, in the smartphone age, email isn’t quite gone the way the dodo, but the most popular communication tools aren’t as friendly with one another. Individual privacy-focused messaging apps are for those who want to embrace them. such as Signal When they realize that, they will smash into a brick wall. Literally All their friends are using WhatsApp. Or iMessage. Telegram. You get the idea.

This trend is also evident in the enterprise world. Slack can be used by your company to send a message to someone else. Those in human resources, however, who are confined to Meta’s Workplace, may have to reconsider DMing sales colleagues using Salesforce Chatter.

While this is nothing new, it has become a major issue in 2022. Europe is pushing ahead with rules To force interoperability of online platforms through the Digital Markets ActDMAWhile the U.S. has similar plans The ACCESS Act.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s arrival at Twitter has driven awareness of alternatives such as Mastodon, the so-called “open source Twitter alternative” that shot past 2 million users From the back chaos at Twitter. Mastodon is powered with the open ActivityPub protocol It is based on the idea of the fediverse: A network of interconnected servers which allows activityPub-powered services and other services to communicate. Tumblr has recently been added revealed That it plans to support ActivityPub protocol in future, according to Flickr CEO Don MacAskill polled his Twitter followers On whether ActivityPub should also be adopted by the community and photo-hosting platform.

Despite the media hype surrounding interoperability in recent weeks, there was already some movement in this direction. It was driven by both governments and enterprises who want to avoid vendor lock in and have greater control over their data.

Enter the Matrix

Matthew Hodgson (Element founders) and Amandine La Pape (Matrix co-creators) Image Credits: Element

Matrix was invented Inside software and services company Amdocs In 2014, she was the leader of Hodgson And Amandine Le Pape The company was sold by them and they decided to devote their time to Matrix, an independent open-source project. They also wanted to commercialize Matrix via a company called New VectorMatrix was created by, and it has since been used to host a number of websites. Slack alternative App called Riot. Hodgson & Le Pape in 2018. launched the Matrix.org Foundation To act as a legal entity, guardian, and administrator for all-things Matrix. This includes protecting Matrix’ intellectual property and managing donations. 

Matrix’s flagship commercial implementation was rebranded as Element Element was founded a little over two years ago and is now backed by Automattic and Dawn Capital, Notion and Protocol Labs. others It is used by many organizations who are looking for a federated alternative from the large-name incumbents that have been sold by U.S. tech companies.

Element is an open-source product that promises encryption at all levels. Customers can also access the standard cross-platform features you would expect in a collaboration product such as voice and video chat, group messaging, and voice and video chat.

Action of the element Image Credits: Element

Element can be hosted on a company’s infrastructure. This avoids any concerns about their data being (mis)used or misused on third-party servers.

Big Tech is being forced to pay more attention to data sovereignty by a growing number of regulations, especially in Europe. partnering with Deutsche Telekom’s IT services and consulting subsidiary T-Systems last year to offer German companies a “sovereign cloud” for their sensitive data.

This regulatory push and growing expectations about data sovereignty have been a boon to the Matrix protocol. Last year, the agency responsible to digitalize Germany’s health system revealed It was transitioning into Matrix to ensure that 150,000 entities in the health care sector, such as hospitals, clinics and insurance companies could communicate with one another regardless of which Matrix-based app it used.

This is in addition to existing Matrix implementations that have been done elsewhere, such as inside the French government via The Tchap Team collaboration platform as well as German armed forces Bundeswehr.

TechCrunch has heard Hodgson explain that the pendulum is clearly moving towards decentralization. “We’re now seeing serious use of Matrix-based decentralized communications across or within the French, German, U.K, Swedish, Finnish and U.S governments, as well as the likes of NATO and adjacent organisations.”

In May, open source began to be accepted. enterprise messaging platform Rocket.Chat revealed It would be moving to the Matrix protocol. Although the transition is still in progress, it was a significant coup for Matrix, as Rocket.Chat has some 12 million users across major companies such as Audi, Continental and Germany’s national railway company The Deutsche Bahn.

Rocket.Chat spokeswoman said that “We believe that any messaging platform’s value increases based on its ability connect with other platforms.” TechCrunch was also informed by Rocket.Chat. Rocket.Chat is a platform that connects with other platforms. We put a lot into it. When emailing one another, we don’t need to worry about which client we use. The same should apply when messaging one another.

Rocket.chat Image Credits: www.chat.ch

The most fascinating thing about all of this is the fact that it goes against the traditional path that enterprise social networks and collaboration tools for team members and consumers have taken.

Slack and Facebook, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Twitter and other social media platforms are all about harnessing network effect. A product’s value is directly related to how many people use it. People want to be with their friends and colleagues, so they will stick with the same social network or use multiple apps at once.

Open and interoperable protocol support a new breed in business that recognizes the need for something that doesn’t lock people in.

Rocket.Chat spokesperson said, “Our goal not to force people into using Rocket.Chat to communicate with one another.” “Our goal is to allow organizations to securely collaborate and connect with others across platforms of their choice.

The bridge

The Matrix protocol also supports non-native interoperability through a technique called “bridging,” which ushers in support for non-Matrix apps, including WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal. Element offers bridging in its consumer-oriented subscription product called Element OneUsers pay $5 per month to connect all their friends into one interface, regardless of which app they use.

Element One subscribers have the ability to bring together different messaging apps Image credit: The Matrix Foundation

These APIs are made public by tech companies. The terms of use may be restricted in how they can also be used by other apps. Additionally, they might impose rate-limits and usage costs.

The Bridging, as it stands, sits somewhere between a “” and a “Is this allowed??” perspective. But with the world’s regulatory eyes laser-focused on Big Tech’s stranglehold on online communications, the companies perhaps don’t enforce all their T&Cs too rigorously.

Although the DMA was officially implemented in Europe last month, it will not be effective until next May. It has specific provisions regarding interoperability as well as data portability. We may see the DMA at that point. How The new regulations will be supported by the Big Tech “gatekeepers”. These APIs allow smaller third-parties to connect and communicate with their Big Tech counterparts. However, this doesn’t mean APIs will be easy to use and have clear documentation. We can expect some intentional heel-dragging and hurdles along their way.

Compliance

WhatsApp and Facebook applications displayed on an iPhone Image Credits: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

While popular messaging apps such WhatsApp offer encryption at the end, they aren’t meant for government or enterprise use. They don’t allow organizations easy access to their messages data, but such apps are often used in such situations. Back in July, the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) called for a government review Consider the potential risks of “private correspondence channels”, such as WhatsApp and personal email accounts, and note that these usages lack “clear controls” which could lead to key information being “lost” or insecurely handled.

John Edwards, U.K. Information Commissioner, said that “I fully understand the importance of instant communication like WhatsApp,” especially during the pandemic when officials had to take quick decisions and meet varied demands. Although these methods are not illegal, they must not be used in an era of lack of transparency or inadequate data security. Public officials must be able to reveal their work for record-keeping purposes and to maintain public trust. This is how trust can be maintained in decisions made and what lessons can be learned for the future.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has recently been active in the business world. settled with 16 Wall Street firms for $1.1 billion Over “widespread recordkeeping errors” in relation to their use private messaging apps like WhatsApp.

Gary Gensler, SEC Chair at the time, said that “Finance, ultimately depends on trust.” Such record keeping has been crucial to maintain market integrity since the 1930s. As technology changes, it’s even more important that registrants appropriately conduct their communications about business matters within only official channels, and they must maintain and preserve those communications.”

A paper trail must be maintained and politicians and business owners held accountable. The Matrix protocol offers a degree of control. But, requiring every company of a certain size to interoperate with other software — as the DMA regulations does — raises many questions around privacy, security and the wider user experience.

The encryption elephant in a room

Illustration of the “elephant inside the room” concept Image Credits: Klyaksun / Getty Images

As Casey Newton Has noted over at The Platformer More than once, Europe’s interoperability regulations have presented a number of pitfalls. One is the obstacles they will create to end-to-end encryption. This means that data can be encrypted while in transit and cannot be decoded.

End-to-end encryption has become a major selling point for large technology companies today. WhatsApp shouts it from the rooftops. It is difficult to make this work across different platforms, even though it is possible. Experts on the subject are numerous. say that it’s not possible To ensure a secure and interoperable messaging system that does not compromise encryption.

WhatsApp has the ability to promise end-to-end encryption and control it on its platform. WhatsApp cannot control the flow of billions upon billions of messages between WhatsApp and other apps run by different companies.

Hodgson admits that no two services will deploy their encryption in the same way. He stated that end-to–end encrypted platforms must speak the same language at all times.

In a blog post The Matrix Foundation published a list of workarounds earlier this year in order to address encryption concerns. It suggested that all big gatekeepers switch over to the same “decentralized, end-to-end protocol” to solve the problem. Matrix, not surprising, is a massive undertaking, but one that the Foundation admitted it would “not rule out”.

Hodgson emphasized this point. Element’s 2020 acquisition of GitterGitLab purchased, a developer-focused chat platform and community, which was used by large-name companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Microsoft. Element was launched within two months of the closing of the deal. had introduced Gitter native Matrix connectivity

A Facebook, Google, and Apple scale transition would require a different approach. It could also cause chaos. You can find out more about the a blog post This year, security and cryptography expert Alec Muffett It was suggested that messaging apps and social media networks would adhere to the same standard protocol, which would result in “no practical distinction” between services.

“Imagine a world in which Signal and Snapchat have to work together — how would that look? Muffett asked TechCrunch rhetorically in a Q&A for this story. “Specifically, what features need to be presented on one side and what educators should surround them? What would happen if functionality conflicts were to be resolved?

This is why Matrix Foundation proposed alternative solutions such as adopting an a TLS certificate-style warning where the user is notified that cross-service conversations are not fully protected. This may be similar to Apple’s Messages app which supports encrypted iMessage messages and (unencrypted!) SMS. Muffett says it would add unnecessary complexity.

“Apart from any other reason that I could cite, there is any amount of user interface research which explains that security-pop-up-warnings are generally not understood and not heeded,” Muffett said. This is supported by tons of research. Popup warnings are a’safety hazard.anti-pattern‘.”

The Matrix Foundation also suggested that communication traffic could be converted between encryption language in a “bridge”, although this would mean that the encryption must be broken and the traffic re-encrypted somewhere.

Hodgson explained that bridges could be executed client-side – for example, Matrix iMessage Bridge runs client-side on iPhone and Mac — or use client-side open APIs locally between the apps.” They could also be run server-side on hardware controlled directly by the user. This ensures that re-encryption takes place in the most secure environment possible and not on vulnerable centralized servers.

No matter how you try to solve the problem, breaking encryption is not ideal. Perhaps more important, there is no solid solution to the encryption problems caused by enforced interoperability.

Hodgson stated that in the past, the benefits of the EU regulations were greater than the negatives.

“On balance, we think that the benefits of mandating open APIs outweigh the risks that someone is going to run a vulnerable large-scale bridge and undermine everyone’s E2EE,” he wrote In May. “It’s better to have the option to be able to get at your data in the first place, than be held hostage in a walled garden.”

Tip of the Iceberg

It is important to note that although the Matrix protocol has been most widely used in the messaging world, there are other possible applications. Recently, the Matrix Foundation announced Third RoomMatrix is the foundation of, which is a distributed and interoperable metaverse platform. This is contrary to the metaverse that could be created in the future, but will not be controlled by Meta’s parent company Facebook.

Element is the iconic poster-child for what a Matrix powered world might look like. Element has already secured big-name clients such as Mozilla. Element is also using Element as a fully managed service. Element stated that it signed a $18million four-year contract with an unnamed company. It also has strategic backers such as Automattic parent WordPress.com, who first introduced Element to the public. invested $4.6 million Element will be back in 2020, prior to its return for its $30 million Series B Last year.

Matrix has found the perfect spot to thrive. It’s at the right moment, when the world is looking for a way out from Big Tech’s grips. Twitter too has been a part of the discussion about the dangers of centralized control and the way it plays into the hands for all those companies pounding on the interoperability drum.

Hodgson stated, “The situation at Twitter was absolutely amazing in terms building awareness of the perils centralization and providing a pivotal moment helping users discover we are entering an age of decentralization.” “Just as many users have discovered that Mastodon is an increasingly viable decentralized alternative to Twitter, we’ve seen a massive halo effect of users discovering Matrix as a way to reclaim their independence over real-time communications such as messaging and VoIP — our long-term user base in particular is growing at its fastest ever rate.”