Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School has taken control of the decentralized social platform Farcaster, rebranding it as the Network State Protocol. The transition has sparked controversy due to a wave of account bans imposed shortly after the acquisition. Users reported their accounts being restricted to “read-only” status for violating new rules, including past posts that no longer align with the platform’s updated guidelines.
Kunal Gandhi, former India ecosystem lead at Eigen Labs, criticized the bans, stating, ‘I know most of these folks. They shaped Farcaster with their quirks and wit. Obliterating accounts from the get-go for past posts is pretty silly. Goes against the ethos of decentralized social.’ Among those reportedly banned was a former Farcaster engineer.
Srinivasan defended the bans as part of a broader vision to create ‘the Singapore of social media’, a techno-optimist community with a shared code of conduct. He compared the moderation efforts to El Salvador’s approach to crime reduction, emphasizing the need to restore offline norms online. The bans were determined using both human and AI review of millions of posts, with an appeals process available for affected users.
Under Network School’s leadership, Farcaster users will opt into a ‘social smart contract,’ which authorizes the core team to enforce rules. Violations are classified as digital felonies, misdemeanors, or infractions, with penalties ranging from warnings to bans. The platform also plans to reward constructive behavior, though specifics on these rewards were not provided. The underlying Farcaster protocol will remain open, allowing users who decline the contract to retain their keys, funds, and post history while moving to other clients.