[mgraczyk]

Facebook messenger is not completely decentralized, but it is E2E encrypted now after years of struggle with governments and UX. It's definitely possible to move centralized systems to be more decentralized.

[rglullis]

How is that an answer to the question?

[mgraczyk]

It's an example of somebody replacing a centralized protocol with a more decentralized one. It's also one of the biggest direct messaging platforms in the world with E2E encryption.

[troupo]

How is it decentralized? It's running from and through Facebook servers.

[mgraczyk]

Facebook cannot read your messages, so it is more decentralized than a system that stores messages in plaintext (or stores the decryption keys).

[alternatex]

That's not what decentralized means though. This whole comment thread is unclear on whether decentralization or encryption is what's desired.

[afiori]

That is because people want decentralized e2ee multi-device chats without manual key management, which afaik is not really possible

[DaSHacka]

Seems like its simply a more private option

it being encrypted but routed through a single companies servers means its just as centralized as if it were unencrypted though

[mgraczyk]

That depends on your definition of decentralization. Because of the way most people set up their apps, almost all Matrix users and ~all Signal users are using a centralized app under this definition.