European public sector communications that support Matrix open standard AOK, BARMER, BEAM (Belgian Secure Communications), BundesMessenger, BwMessenger (BWI), ByCS-Messenger, Delta, ePost (Swiss post), European Commission, Famedly GmbH, FITKO (Föderale IT-Kooperation), grnet, IKK classic, KBS, KKH Kaufmännische Krankenkasse, LaSuite (Direction interministérielle du numérique (DINUM)), Logineo NRW, Luxchat, luxchat4gov, Meedio, Merkury (Ministerstwo obrony narodowej), MijnBureau (NL digital government), NI²CE (NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT)), neoboard (Nordeck), Rocket.Chat, SAFOS (Försäkringskassan), Schulchat RLP, Techniker Krankenkasse, Tchap (Direction interministérielle du numérique (DINUM)), TI-Messenger (gematik), UNICC, openDesk (Zentrum Digitale Souveränität (ZenDiS)).

🇪🇺Digitally sovereign communications rely on open standards to enable vendor-neutral federation and prevent lock-in.

We’ve mapped European public sector deployments supporting Matrix-based federation.

@matrix.org enables:
🔐Sovereignty 🔗Interoperability 🚫No vendor lock-in

element.io/blog/digital...

Back with another blog post, this time on the CRA. Would be very keen to hear about what others are doing!

Sustainable decentralised comms at Element At FOSDEM 2026, Neil Johnson explained why sustainability is essential for open source software - and why it matters even more for decentralised networks like Matrix.

At @fosdem.org, @neilj.bsky.social shared why sustainability is essential for open source and decentralised networks like @matrix.org.

🌱 We support by investing in independent governance, keeping core functionality open source, and lowering the barrier to adoption with ESS Community and Element X.

The Digital Omnibus: opportunities and risks for open source The Digital Omnibus: opportunities and risks for open source

⚖️ EU’s Digital Omnibus: help or harm for open source?

At @fosdem.org, @denisersa.bsky.social shared a practitioner’s view.

✅ Less bureaucracy (unified incident reporting, shared DPIAs)
⚠️ Risk of GDPR deregulation via changes to personal data definition

🗓️ Consultation is open until 11 March

Welcoming Discord users amidst the challenge of Age Verification Matrix, the open protocol for secure decentralised communications

We're delighted to welcome the massive influx of users looking for decentralised alternatives to Discord!

Here's what to expect, and some clarity on the growing challenges posed by age verification.

matrix.org/blog/2026/02...

Benjamin's fundraiser for Epilepsy Action Help Benjamin Roden raise money to support Epilepsy Action

A little over a year ago our lives changed as my husband was diagnosed with epilepsy. It has been a rough journey and Epilepsy Action has been a lifeline. Now he is using his LLHM spot to raise funds for them and give back. If you’re able to, please donate! www.justgiving.com/page/benjami...

It was the Fuck Around of Times, it was the Find Out of times

"EU Open Source Policy Summit" on a blue banner

I have some ideas on how we can go about this and will create a Matrix room for us to congregate this week. If that is something you would be interested in joining please comment below, DM me or ping me directly on Matrix (@denisea:element.io).

Let’s get to work!

I have had a few people reach out following my talk on the Digital Omnibus (will share the recording once it is live), wanting to organise and collaborate together on some of the risks associated with changes to GDPR key definitions (especially risk of de regulation).

Wide angle photo of a university auditorium attended a talk by the author.

Digital sovereignty has never been more important, nor has been the defense and protection of our fundamental rights. The momentum is here, now is the time for us to harness it.

Author of the post on the bottom left corner of the photo, smiling at an audience. Background of the photo has a slide saying "thank you for your time" and providing contact details for the author.

Still processing all of the great talks and chats following the @openforumeurope.org Policy Summit and @fosdem.org.
It feels incredibly inspiring and energising to be surrounded by so many brilliant people, all working towards common goals (even if we might go about it in different ways at times).

Blue banner with the words “EU Open Source Policy Summit” in white

Very grateful to be at the @openforumeurope.org Open Source Policy Summit today, which @element.io proudly sponsors, talking to and learning from those working towards a more open and resilient future. Leaving with many notes, ideas and a renewed focus to keep going.

The photo captures Amandine Le Pape on the stage at OpenForum Europe's session at the EU Open Source Policy Summit.

Element co-founder and COO, @amandine.bsky.social, participates in @openforumeurope.org's panel debate on Europe’s Software Challenge, discussing how openness underpins digital sovereignty.

When chat history matters most As limits land on some free self-hosted collaboration tools, more teams are turning to ESS Community - our free-use, open source Matrix distribution.

💬 When chat history matters most

As limits hit free self-hosted tools, more teams are turning to ESS Community - our free, open-source Matrix distribution.

✔️ Unlimited history
✔️ Voice & video
✔️ E2EE
✔️ Open & sovereign by design

Built on Matrix, with advanced org controls available in ESS Pro👇

ESS - Element’s distribution for Matrix deployments ESS - Element’s distribution for Matrix deployments

🚀 From the legacy ESS Classic distribution to our new Helm-based ESS stack!

At #MatrixConf2025, Patrick Maier walked us through the evolution of Element Server Suite (ESS): our backend distribution for hosting and maintaining a Matrix-based system.

▶️ Explore Patrick’s talk in full!

"only MDs are allowed to go by doctor" discourse is negatively polarizing me into being one of those "actually they STOLE the title from academics cranks"

Got in the Valencia half-marathon ballot! So happy to be ticking off two of the Superhalfs next year (Lisbon in March). Adding this to my first full marathon in Edinburgh, 2026 is gearing up to be a pretty exciting running year!

🇪🇺 Excited for the Summit on European Digital Sovereignty!

openDesk and La Suite will be showcased to demonstrate how Europe is building digitally sovereign office suites on open source software — both using customised versions of Element and @matrix.org open standard for real-time communications.

Inspired by the EU: Sweden eyes open standard for encrypted chat services | Computer Weekly What if your messaging and collaboration app could talk to all the others? Swedish government agencies are investigating the possibility.

🇸🇪 Sweden is exploring open-standard messaging across government agencies.

eSam recommends adopting @matrix.org for sovereign, secure and interoperable collaboration.

Matrix and Element are already in use by Forsäkringskassan and other agencies as part of the SAFOS collaboration platform.

Leading the way into CRA compliance: Element’s approach to the incoming regulation YouTube video by Matrixdotorg

Different experience this year presenting @matrix.org conference remotely. Delighted to be a part of such an open and flexible community.

Here are some of my thoughts on the CRA and its potential impacts on Matrix in particular and FOSS in general: www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-JS...

Really enjoying the panel on social engineering at #DPPC25. This key focus on people and adequate education to build compliant cultures aligns perfectly with my PhD findings around privacy helplessness. Awareness and empowerment are critical in any DPOs toolkit.

Ready for The Matrix Conference 2025! We’re ready for The Matrix Conference 2025 - 300+ participants from 20+ countries and 10+ governments - all championing Matrix-based sovereign, secure and interoperable communications.

🚀 We’re ready for The Matrix Conference 2025 kicking off tomorrow in Strasbourg!

🌍 300+ participants from 20+ countries and 10+ governments - all championing Matrix-based sovereign, secure and interoperable communications. We’re proud to be the anchor sponsor again!

Highlights and details👇️

Where are the folks attending DPPC 2025 congregating here? It seems like the conference organisers are mainly using X which is a shame... @infocommission.bsky.social

Element signs Chat Control open letter Element has joined other European organisations in an open letter to European leaders on the latest developments regarding Chat Control.

Element has signed an open letter to European leaders alongside other organisations.

The Danish Presidency’s CSA proposal risks adding backdoors and client-side scanning – undermining encryption, security, and trust across Europe.

Strong encryption protects everyone. Weakening it protects no one.

Hiding room metadata from servers Every year, Element takes on a small number of summer interns to work on various research and development projects. Internships are a significant part of our culture, and ~20% of the current Element e...

🚀 We’re pleased to showcase the work of our summer intern, Skye, who made a big impact with their work on encrypted state events.

The blog post breaks down the project in detail.

element.io/blog/hiding-...

And now it is truly finished. Today I have passed my PhD viva with minor revisions. It’s not fully sunk in yet and I can’t wait to talk about my findings, but for now some cake and rest will do just fine!

New Element Web and Desktop apps have distinct Element X vibes! The brand new updates of the Element Web and Desktop apps include a major rework of room listings. It brings the ‘laptop versions’ of the Element apps in line with the Element X design on mobile devic...

🚀 Element Web & Desktop just got a glow-up, bringing Element X vibes from mobile straight to your laptop!

✨ New room list filters
🔔 Clearer notifications
🔧 Accessibility & performance upgrades

Version v1.12.0 is live! Try it out and let us know what you think.

Schedule of The Matrix Conference Whether you want to hear how an organization deployed Matrix at scale or learn what the engineers are doing to improve the protocol, the Matrix Conference has a track for you.

🚀 Delighted that the full agenda for The Matrix Conference 2025 is now live!

This year’s schedule is packed with government and public organisations sharing how they use Matrix and Element.

🗓️ View the full schedule: conference.matrix.org/schedule/

can't really begin to explain the extent to which I do Not want to be filmed without my knowledge by someone wearing smart glasses while out and about

Early morning sun rays peeking through clouds over the sea. There is the outline of land in the background and fishing boats in a harbour in the foreground.

Running at close to 90% humidity isn't all bad when it comes with views like this.