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submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by verifytheposter@leminal.space to c/matrix@programming.dev

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 all 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.

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[-] Arda@piefed.social 1 points 3 days ago

This is a nothingburger to me, matrix isn't supposed to be anonymous for that it is indeed not good your content is supposed to be safe and it is, works as it should.

this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2026
-1 points (44.4% liked)

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