TL;DR if you want a drop in replacement, it’s not Matrix - yet! Donate to give people the means to make it so .
Also age verification stuff is the fault of governments at the core. Governments force companies to do age verification but dont specify how or that it should be secure and private.
Matrix is a protocol. Pick a different server and it’s a non-issue.
Donate to Matrix now that they have spent tens of millions with nothing to show for them, and got cut loose from their investors as a consequence. Sure. Whatever to keep the grift going.
“Nothing to show for it”. Sure, only a few EU governments switching to it or building on top of it. Otherwise, nothing.
However, it’s important to note that server admins are still subject to the law in the jurisdiction where they operate.
Practically speaking, that means that people and organisations running a Matrix server with open registration must verify the ages of users in countries which require it. Last summer we announced a series of changes to the terms and conditions of the Matrix.org homeserver instance, to ensure UK-based users are handled in alignment with the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA). Since then Australia, New Zealand and the EU have introduced similar legislation, with movement in the US and Canada too. If you’ve been around for a while, you will have seen that we started raising the alarm about the dangers and potential risks of the OSA back in 2021 - but the reality is that these laws already apply, and the consequences of getting it wrong are serious.
