interesting thread about E2EE DMs when deeply embedded in a social app, versus not: content embed visibility, interaction leakage, message history, importance of defaults. (use germ and/or signal!)
Jon Millican
I've seen a lot of chatter today about Instagram ending support for optional End-to-End Encrypted DMs. I helped to lead on cryptography and privacy for E2EE in Messenger and Instagram for many years, until I left around 10 months ago, so it's disappointing to see it being removed from Instagram.
Mar 14, 2026 at 6:00 AM
Germ DM x ATProto is Now in Beta β Germ Network
Germ DM is now a Bluesky messenger. Weβve integrated AT Protocol into our iOS app, so E2EE DMs have come to the Atmosphere! Germ DM is the end-to-end encrypted messenger that lets you talk freelyβwithout a your phone number. Itβs powered by Messaging Layer Security (MLS) and now connects to your A
Delta Chat: Bringing E2E privacy to the Web: 4th security audit π
Delta Chatβs βweb apps shared in a chatβ come with a unique privacy promise but in January it was shown to be compromised. We got into a surprising struggle with Web browser sandboxing issues that ...
Ambient Co-presence
Creating a subtle, peripheral, and synchronous sense of shared space and context on the web
No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior
Electronic media present us with a collage of experiences from everyplace. We eat dinner at home while watching starving children thousands of miles away reach out to us for food. From our easy chairs, we stare at blindfolded hostages, and coolly
Social apps | at-store
Social-layer apps focused on posting, discovery, conversation, and relationship-building across the network.
The Nightmare of Eternal Spring: Why Social Media Can't Survive on "Niceness" Alone - Nightflight
Embracing the Atmosphere
Bristol Cable launches hybrid news and social networking app in bid to double membership
A "world first" mobile experience aims to give members curated discussions and community connections within a privacy-focused platform
if atproto adds E2EE messaging support, will be a bunch of questions: would it be integrated directly in client apps (like Bluesky), or be a separate client app experience? would you have per-app chats (for content sharing), or account-level (generic msgs w/ DIDs)? if the later, why not just Germ?
New from me, on the decision by the @ec.europa.eu to not extend the DMA interoperability requirements to social media, and how this closes off a pathway for mass adoption of open social networks. connectedplaces.online/reports/fr162-eu-regulation-wβ¦
FR#162 β EU Regulation Wonβt Save Open Social Networks
connectedplaces.onlineAtmosphere social client apps should make it easier to broadcast beyond the protocol. Ex. In-app mirroring tools for Threads, X, and other microblogging platforms. As well as having post scheduling. Let people share across the social internet, but make sure ATproto feels like home base.
If you're building apps for the social web, this survey report by Incogni is really worth a read. People are quietly withdrawing from active participation in social media. blog.incogni.com/digital-fatigue-and-burnout/ Extracts in the thread π§Ά π
The great digital fatigue: How digital burnout is changing social media use [2026] | Incogni
blog.incogni.comI think it is great for folks to experiment with app experiences, and to give folks control over their own experience online. but part of that is publicly debating design decisions, and I think both of these visibility features could have bad outcomes for the network...
John O Connell
#wsocial Just a reminder with corkiejp.github.io/ATProtocolHandler/index.html you can filter out basic handles from other services (also in reverse). Just requires using desktop or mobile browser that supports extensions instead of the apps.
