Opening up communication silos with Matrix 2.0 and the EU Digital Markets Act⌗

Two parts, matrix 2.0 and the EU act.

First few graphs shows that Matrix is really popular. The graph showing government deployments is interesting to see. Not all governments fund the project.

“Public money for public code” translates to adding new features, since this is visible in the final product.

2023 was rough year. This forced the team to focus on certain projects, matrix 2.0, synapse, matrix-rust-sdk and matrix-js-sdk. The matrix-ios-sdk and matrix-android-sdk only get critical bug fixes.

Sliding sync, is the new protocol for Matrix 2.0. It should make things fast. And is required for Element X.

Element call is E2EE these days.

The second part. Matrix could play the role as the common language for the gatekeeper protocols (like whatsapp, facebook).

The vision is to have a protocol converter which translates E2EE messages from a matrix format into something which the DMA service uses.

Does it work? Well.. it seems viable (with WhatsApp).

Linearized Matrix, a lighter architecture may be a good option for vendors to implement. It skips many of the complex bits of Matrix. But would allow vendors to comply to DMA.

The Matrix team started working with the IETF in the MIMI group, the More Instant Messaging Interoperability Working Group. The Linearized Matrix comes in here.

Conclusion⌗

It is always nice to see the update of the Matrix team. A review of the last year, if you will. ## References

Opening up communication silos with Matrix 2.0 and the EU Digital Markets Act