Project Liberty taps Polkadot to disrupt social media
Project Liberty, which leverages blockchain technology to democratize social media data, is joining forces with Polkadot to collaborate on the first implementation of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP).
Backed by Frank McCourt, the billionaire real estate mogul and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner, Project Liberty will focus on the development of a publicly accessible database of people’s social connections.
In a joint statement, McCourt and Gavin Wood, founder of Polkadot and the Web3 Foundation, said their alliance aims to evolve an open-source internet protocol to become the core social layer of the next generation of the internet.
“We are excited to work with Gavin and his colleagues to bring our shared vision of a healthier web into reality. Not only are they pioneering innovators, but our values are aligned for how the internet should be restructured in a way that empowers users, benefits society, and strengthens democracy,” said Frank McCourt.
This collaboration is said to encourage a more egalitarian approach by building a more “equitable, user-focused, and socially aware web.” As such, social network users will be able to own and control their personal data. In practice, this appears to force social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, to draw from a shared place of social data.
For this purpose, Polkadot will provide its professional and technical expertise to power a new type of internet infrastructure, dubbed the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP). It is an open-source protocol that establishes a shared social graph no longer dependent on a specific application or centralized platform, and is controlled and governed by its users.
In a similar way to how blockchain stores information, the DNSP serves as a public utility that provides a more “equitable and inclusive infrastructure for the next generation of the web.”
“Web 3.0 needs a universally accessible social graph to be successful, as the Web 2.0 social giants currently have absolute control over what users can say or do on their platforms. Project Liberty and the DSNP protocol presents a clear path towards providing this crucial service. We are excited to work with partners who share our vision, values, and hope that others will join in our efforts to create a fairer foundation for the internet,” added Gavin Wood.
