Matrix.org

What will it take to build an open source Europe and how the Digital Commons EDIC can help

2026-10-14 — Advocacy, EU — Amandine Le Pape

A few years ago, it would have been unthinkable that Governments could have dedicated open source and digital commons strategies championed by ministers. But that has changed profoundly: in June, the European Commission unveiled a European Tech Sovereignty Package, which identified some €264 billion spent annually on proprietary, non-European products and services as a strategic risk. The Matrix Foundation has been a driving force in this change. Last week, I was in Paris representing Matrix at an event hosted by the General Directorate for Enterprises to discuss the vital role open source plays in Europe’s digital policy agenda. The event was opened by the French Minister Delegate for AI and Digital affairs Anne Le Henanff and the German State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital Transformation and Government Modernisation (BMDS) Markus Richter. At the same time our Developer Relations lead, Andy Piper, was in Luxembourg speaking on a panel with a new European body that grew out of the Tech Sovereignty Package: the Digital Commons European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (DC-EDIC).

French Minister Delegate Anne Le Henanff and German State Secretary Markus Richter are delivering their opening remarks on a stage in front of German, French, and European flags. There is a projection surface behind them with details about their person. — The French and German ministers opened the DGE open source event.

The DC-EDIC was created in December last year with the mission to “develop, maintain, and scale digital commons for Europe”. The finalisation of an open call for expert advisors completed the set-up of a first-of-its-kind governmental body that aims to strengthen European digital sovereignty by building, financing, and deploying open source infrastructure solutions. The DC-EDIC is an exciting opportunity for the whole of Europe to catalyse the use of digital commons and ensure the commons are sustainable.

With 12 years under our belt spent building and maintaining Matrix as an open standard, taking it to the point where it serves as the backbone of communications for millions of European civil servants, we have built a strong understanding of the gaps in the market and ecosystem that hold back the sustainable use of digital commons. Here are our recommendations for how the DC-EDIC can maximise the impact of its five goals.

Matrix for Public Sector: DINUM joins the Foundation as we launch a new forum!

2025-10-21 — Conference, EU, Foundation — Amandine Le Pape

🔗DINUM becoming the first government to join the Matrix.org Foundation

Today DINUM, the French Interministerial Digital Directorate, has officially announced that they were joining the Matrix.org Foundation as a Silver member and becomes the first government to join the Matrix.org Foundation!

This is particularly exciting news as it will hopefully set an example for other public sector organisations using Matrix to communicate, and there are many of them.

The European Union must keep funding free software

2024-07-17 — Advocacy, EU, Policy — Josh Simmons

The Matrix.org Foundation is joining other organisations in calling on the European Commission to sustain its funding for the Next Generation Internet.

We thank the petites singularités association for their leadership in starting this open letter, and are grateful to OW2 for the English translation.

Join us by publishing the letter on your own website and add yourself to this table.

🔗Open letter to the European Commission

Since 2020, Next Generation Internet (NGI) programmes, part of European Commission's Horizon programme, fund free software in Europe using a cascade funding mechanism (see for example NLnet's calls). This year, according to the Horizon Europe working draft detailing funding programmes for 2025, we notice that Next Generation Internet is not mentioned any more as part of Cluster 4.

Policy and regulation update 2024: Matrix and the GDPR

2024-06-06 — Compliance, EU, Foundation — Denise Almeida

If you have been following the matrix.org blog for some time, you will know that we’ve never been ones to shy away from complex topics like public policy and its impacts on Matrix. With this blog post series, our aim is to introduce a more regular cadence to our regulatory updates and to be more transparent about where we are focusing our efforts in this area.

Each blog post in the series will focus on a given theme or piece of law, as well as its relevant jurisdiction. We will start this series by taking a deep dive into EU regulation, starting with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Future blog posts in the series will cover the digital services package (DMA and DSA), the incoming CRA and the highly controversial CSAM regulation. These will be followed by a series dedicated to the UK, particularly UK applications of European law such as the GDPR and ePrivacy directive, as well as the Online Safety Act and the IPA amendment bill. Finally, we will conclude the series by looking across the pond and diving into the Cloud Act, as well as KOSA and other existing proposals.