Margaux Nijkerk
Margaux Nijkerk reports on blockchain protocols with a focus on the Ethereum ecosystem. A graduate of Johns Hopkins and Emory universities, she has a masters in International Affairs & Economics. She holds a very small amount of ETH and other altcoins.
MeWe, a 20 million-member social network focused on user privacy, agreed to use a blockchain-powered technology that aims to wrest control over social networks from corporations and decentralize them much like old-school email.
MeWe announced Tuesday it’s using the Decentralized Social Network Protocol (DSNP) from Project Liberty, which was created by Frank McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. DSNP is an open-source project that provides the basic plumbing of a social network but is not tied to a specific company, giving users greater control over their data.
Project Liberty wants to address mass data collection over the internet and return the ownership of personal data to people through the use of technologies including blockchains. MeWe, which has been called the anti-Facebook, doesn’t share users’ info with advertisers and makes “privacy the foundation of online social experiences,” according to its website. It said this announcement makes it the largest decentralized social network.
“DSNP enables a new path forward for social media platforms, like MeWe, that want to give their members more control, greater privacy, and an authentic sharing experience” McCourt said in in the company’s press release.
