12
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by verifytheposter@leminal.space to c/matrix@lemmy.ml

Matrix Metadata Problem: the server sees everything except your messages

People pick Matrix because of end-to-end encryption. But E2EE only protects message content โ€” everything around it is plaintext.

The server sees:

  • Your ID, IP, client type and version, device you use
  • Your presence, typing status, read receipts
  • Which rooms you join and when you join/leave
  • Who else is in those rooms โ†’ your entire social graph
  • Room names, topics, avatars (all plaintext state)
  • For every message: who sent it, which room, a millisecond timestamp, type, size

And federation copies most of that to every other server whose users are in the room. Your "social footprint" isn't one copy โ€” it's as many as there are servers.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] JoeBidet@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago

Matrix shall be considered a "metadata-rich protocol" :(

[-] gary_host_laptop@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

without that metadata you'd get a pretty bare bones experience. encrypting metadata adds another layer of complexity, not everyone wants that.

[-] verifytheposter@leminal.space 1 points 1 day ago
[-] gary_host_laptop@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago

signal? the one that requires a phone number to registar? the one that has a centralized server that you can't self host basically?

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 1 points 22 hours ago

Yet the vast majority of people won't be self-hosting, anyways, and using someone else's server.

[-] verifytheposter@leminal.space 1 points 1 day ago

Matrix can expose your device name and device details to other homeservers through federation. Profile information such as your avatar and bio can also be queried remotely. A client version is not a dedicated federation field, but it can leak through the device name. Signal at least has Sealed Sender, which hides the sender's identity from its own service in supported cases.

This is about metadata, not centralisation, self-hosting, or phone-number registration. Those are separate issues, not trade-offs.

this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2026
12 points (87.5% liked)

Matrix

3974 readers
39 users here now

An open network for secure, decentralized communication

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS