Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

481–490 of 988 posts

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#481

Post by est31 »

o-__-o wrote: post #445
est31 wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your users still benefit from less centralization. The main matrix.org instance might ban them for whatever reason, but their access to your internal server is not touched. It's different if all of you used Signal or Discord and their account got banned e.g. for using an alternative client.

Signal is open source you can run your own non-federated signal server. You can use a custom signal client against the federated network too. https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7vq4k/thousands-of-users-un...

Moxie is not friendly towards such third party clients that connect to the main network. Also, I only used it as an example. There might be other reasons for a ban. The point is that you don't depend on them.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#482

Post by readflaggedcomm »

COGlory wrote: post #182

F-Droid Link: Element (previously Riot.im) (Secure decentralised chat & VoIP. Keep your data safe from third parties.) - https://f-droid.org/packages/im.vector.app

Aren't some Matrix servers, which Element can connect to, considered "free speech zones" where hate speech and misinformation propagates? If so, expect F-Droid to do the needful to Element like they have before[1].

[1] https://f-droid.org/en/2019/07/16/statement.html

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#483

Post by williamonill »

Perhaps a little cynical but what would stop Google from classifying praising other search engines as "hate speech" and deleting any comments in this direction from their platforms? And when "hate speech" is just a little too absurd then they just classify it as "security risk" and ban it as well.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#484

Post by tpxl »

teddyh wrote: post #360
0x10c0fe11ce wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m seriously considering ditching my iPhones for any Nokia dumb phone. But what we really need is a mobile OS that is really free with no marketing BS, ideally BSD derived.

Like this one? https://pureos.net/ Running on a phone: https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/

Pinephone for a cheaper, less performant alternative: https://pine64.com/product-category/pinephone/?v=0446c16e2e6...

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#485

Post by hutzlibu »

julienfr112 wrote: post #443
oji0hub wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well maybe, but even Ubuntu / Debian aren't workable for most people. I've used Linux and FreeBSD since the 90s and I'm still pleasantly surprised when my printer works out of the box. They're great for developers, but they've been unable to provide a usable and simple alternative for most people. Imo, partly because a lack of incentives since developers tend to create for themselves. Partly due to fragmentation lead…

Actually Ubuntu is not less usable than Windows 10. Ex on intel NUC - wifi on Ubuntu : out of box - wifi on windows : plug ethernet, install driver manually. Old printers works better on Linux, eg when driver do not work on windows 10. Libre Office outof box, Office : where is my key ? ...

"Actually Ubuntu is not less usable than Windows 10."

For you and me maybe. But don't expect other people to have your standard of software choices etc.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#486

Post by walrus01 »

brettwilcox wrote: post #374
Arathorn wrote: post #3

So we got notified by the developer console at 21:45 UTC that the app had been suspended, but still haven’t had an email to explain why - it’s 02:24 now. Our assumption that this is due to someone reporting abusive content in Matrix to Google, and Element catching the blame — although this is currently speculation. To be clear: Element is a Matrix client just as Chrome is a Web browser, and just as it’s possible to v…

I'm testing Element and Matrix at American Airlines. There are big players with clout that take issue to instability such as this. How can I rely on my company using Element when it gets pulled? Not cool Google... To the element team, reach out to me if you can't get the support you are looking for.

Google may be able to control the Element app on the play store, but at least for the server side there's no way to do that with synapse (the official matrix protocol server side implementation), which is fully open source and distributed directly from the developers.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#487

Post by tom_mellior »

Arathorn wrote: post #3

So we got notified by the developer console at 21:45 UTC that the app had been suspended, but still haven’t had an email to explain why - it’s 02:24 now. Our assumption that this is due to someone reporting abusive content in Matrix to Google, and Element catching the blame — although this is currently speculation. To be clear: Element is a Matrix client just as Chrome is a Web browser, and just as it’s possible to v…

Good luck! I hope you get this resolved soon.

In the meantime, what is the explanation for the F-Droid version lagging behind?

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#488

Post by kubanczyk »

vbezhenar wrote: post #361
js4ever wrote: post #238

It seems all those deplatforming started really recently with trump/parler and turned into a witch hunt. It's now totally out of control and we start to look like CCP

But Google is a private company and can decide who they want to see in their stores. Right?

Yes, this legal void needs to end. If you have a majority of some market, there need to be additional legal responsibilities.

Re: Element (Matrix chat app) suspended from the Google Play Store

#490

Post by volta83 »

brettwilcox wrote: post #474
volta83 wrote: post #467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't you just use a web app or any other matrix client if this happens? If Google were to "ban" slack from their store, their browsers, etc. then you would be quite in trouble. But with matrix, just pick a different client and move on.

Yes, I'm doing a custom react client integration. AA has to prepare for black swan events from every angle and this is a perfect example of one. When you have 100,000+ employees, it's not trivial to just switch up communication platforms.

Let each user pick among any of the multiple clients available. Don't design your system / process to only support one client.
Post reply on HN