this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2026
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I thought we already had Matrix
We do.
This is for activitypub DMs.
That's what I mean.
The headline is a lie.
If I say tacos coming soon, it doesn't mean I invented tacos, just that there will be new tacos I guess
I heard this is the line for tacos.
Lines long as 2, and they only come three ways. Steak, cilantro, lime, cheese with your choice of sauce... Chicken chipotle mixed Mexican blend cheese, and cilantro lime, rice-cauliflower.
Sides are open as a bar, self serve.
I want beans and rice, no meat!
I'll take one
i'm suddenly hungry for tacos
Then I charge you with naming you favorite genre at least. Barbacoa?
last time i had lamb barbacoa/arab kind of tacos was more than a decade ago and i still cherish that memory for a variety of reasons. not very common here though.
i will usually make chilli tacos for the relative simplicity of making them, when i'm already baking beans anyway.
That sounds delicious. I need more pitas in my life. Thoughts of shawarma always make me hungry.
Matrix is not really integrated into the ActivityPub protocol the same way DMs usually are. I would have to open a separate application to message you on Matrix, I can’t just click on your profile and shoot you a DM (or can I?).
You cannot, two totally different protocols
There you go. So I think adding DMs to ActivityPub would add an extra level of convenience
I mean, there's nothing technically stopping one app supporting both protocols natively, especially since Lemmy already includes a field for people's profiles to link their Matrix ID. Though to my knowledge none do it yet.
Sure, in the same way there is nothing stopping Lemmy from using ATProto. The problem is all competing standards and what the developer chooses to use.
Perhaps, but I'm describing something slightly different. Your description is basically "one platform supporting two protocols that basically do the same thing". I'm talking more about "one app that has two separate-but-related bits of functionality, each using the more appropriate protocol for that job".
ActivityPub is only one of a number of federated protocols.
One notably unsuited to instant messaging.
I, too, am often pissed at clickbaity, exaggerated, deliberately ambiguous headlines.
The subtitle makes it clear though: this is about ActivityPub, which has grown into the #1 federation protocol I guess.
It's not, the demo video actually shows that being one such use case. There's nothing stopping anyone from writing a chat service in ActivityPub. But this can also apply to statuses, media, all kinds of other stuff.
No it's not. Matrix isn't part of the Fediverse. It doesn't use ActivityPub and there is no interop with any other Fediverse service.
That doesn't make Matrix bad, it just makes it it's own thing.
ActivityPub isn't the only way to be federated. Email is federated. Email isn't ActivityPub. Matrix is no different.
And XMPP before it, even for e2ee messaging.
At least this is a slightly different use case.
Matrix is decentralized but its not federating in a way like activity pub is doing
ActivityPub isn't the only way to federate.
It's federating the same way email does. Anyone can spin up their own server. And if they want anyone can spin up their own software. That's what federation is. Different servers agreeing on how to communicate with each other.
What??? I thought being part of Federation meant being part of the WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION!
OOOOH YEAH, SEE I'M ALWAYS THINKIN THINKIN THINKIN, YEAH. AND WHEN IT'S ALL SAID AND DONE, WE DO THING IN THE RING! DIG IT! THE TOWER OF POWER TOO SWEET TO BE SOUR, FUNKY LIKE A MONKEY! OOOOOOH YEEEAAAHHHH!!!!
Pomp and circumstance plays over the house speakers
ELIZABETH!!!
No that's decentralization, federating is when you can share the info natively outside the platform.
I'm not even sure that makes sense.
Federating is based on protocols not platforms. And what does it mean to share natively if not using the protocol?
That’s a distinction that only matters to nerds.
Luckily most of us on here are nerds so it’s all good.
How so? It's certainly very similar.
The matrix protocol enables federation between different instances running different homeservers between users using different clients.
What do you mean?
And what benefit justifies yet another standard?
In this day and age we need as many open source e2e encrypted alternatives as possible.
Matrix is a protocol, not an “App”. We would all benefit if everyone stopped doing their own thing, and started to push stuff for Matrix.
Huh? ActivityPub is also a protocol, now with this feature, why does that extra feature stop people from using Matrix?
Matrix has a list of specs, and ActivityPub has a different list, there may be some overlap but what's the problem here?
Because this is being advertised as federated end to end encrypted chat. They already exists and it’s called matrix, and it works damn well.
Matrix does not connect natively to discord as an example, every user of a matrix protocol is still within matrix
Activitypub doesn't connect natively to my toaster.
Sounds like you need to upgrade your toaster, noob.
So? Does anything connect to discord, legally and natively?
Matrix is a poor choice from a cryptographic perspective. With some serious issues historically (some of which are still unfixed to this day), and an extremely poor response to disclosures.
https://soatok.blog/2026/02/17/cryptographic-issues-in-matrixs-rust-library-vodozemac/