Can open protocols end Big Tech dominance?
In the summer of 1787, a group of delegates gathered in Philadelphia to hammer out the U.S. Constitution—a process that was less a grand moment of clarity than months of messy, iterative debate. The result became the foundation for a new system of governance.
Today, we find ourselves in a similarly important—if less visible—moment: rethinking the governance structures that underpin the digital spaces where so much of modern life now unfolds.
In this week’s newsletter, we’re looking at the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), a public digital infrastructure protocol designed to reshape how power, control, and ownership function online. It may not draw headlines, but it may shape the norms and choices that define our digital lives.
// What are public protocols?
Whenever you send an email, browse the web, or share content online, you rely on digital public protocols.
Public protocols are an agreed-upon set of rules that enable communication and interoperability between different systems and services, without being owned or controlled by any single entity. They create a common language that allows different applications to communicate.
The internet’s early growth was fueled by foundational public protocols such as HTTP (enabling people to browse the web), TCP/IP (enabling devices to connect and exchange data across networks), and SMTP (enabling people to send emails).
These protocols act as a digital public utility or highway, catalyzing innovation and creating the rails for millions of people and computers to connect.
- Public protocols are open, meaning no single entity can monopolize internet access or content.
- Public protocols promote interoperability between different systems.
- Public protocols put power in the hands of everyday developers and users who can build upon them. They allow multiple people and companies to simultaneously work on and innovate around an idea.
// The privatization of the web
But things have dramatically changed. The internet’s early days, where public protocols reigned, gave way to a more privatized internet.
“The development of protocols was so rich in the late 80s through the early 90s, and then everything became privatized, and we stopped developing these core protocols,” said Braxton Woodham, Co-Creator of Project Liberty’s DSNP.
While much of the internet is still interoperable, today’s web is dominated by private platforms that disincentivize interoperable communication between platforms. Big Tech companies like Meta, TikTok, and X continue to build private applications and platforms—walled off from each other and fully controlled by their own code.
One reason lies at the heart of the current business model: Today’s dominant platforms are built to maximize control over user data and attention. Their value depends on keeping users locked into closed ecosystems, where every interaction, relationship, and piece of content remains under the platform’s ownership. This model allows companies to shape user experience, extract data, and drive engagement on their own terms—often with little transparency or recourse. As a result, users face steep costs for leaving, including the loss of their data and social connections.
Digital public protocols present an antidote to such unchecked power.
// DSNP
One such digital public protocol is DSNP, which was launched in 2020. Powered by Project Liberty Labs and stewarded by Project Liberty Institute, the nonprofit branch of Project Liberty, DSNP is an open protocol and potential standard for social networking.
Akin to foundational internet protocols like SMTP or HTTP, but built for social interactions, DSNP gives users greater control over their social graph.
- Open and Permissionless: Anyone can build on or use DSNP. Because it isn’t tied to a private platform, developers can create interoperable applications.
- Portability: Users control their social graph, enabling them to freely move to different DSNP-based applications without losing relationships or content. This data portability and interoperability is in stark contrast to the network effects of today’s social media platforms that prevent users from taking their content and social graph between platforms.
- Privacy and Control: Data practices are transparent in DSNP-based applications. Users can decide how their data is managed and request its removal from any given app.
DSNP, through the Frequency blockchain, is already powering platforms like MeWe and SOAR.
“DSNP serves as a public utility, an open digital infrastructure that empowers users, enables new business models, and drives a more decentralized digital future,” said Sarah Nicole, Research & Policy Manager for Project Liberty Institute.
As a public utility, DSNP is in the process of building a decentralized governance structure—a way for the community to steward protocol development, enact upgrades, and resolve disputes in a fair, transparent, and accountable manner.
// Sustainable decentralized governance
The protocols that make the internet usable and accessible require ongoing governance. Today, HTTP is still governed by an open group of people on the HTTP Working Group. That working group is an initiative of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), an organization founded in 1986 that is the primary standards development organization for the internet. It also oversees TCP/IP and SMTP.
DSNP is developing its own governance structure to ensure it can become a true public utility. Last month at RightsCon Taiwan, the DSNP governance community convened for the first time in person and took a major step forward in building a sustainable decentralized governance framework. Over 40 participants from academia, government, and the private sector developed a draft governance framework for DSNP.
The group applied principles of digital governance from a recent report, The Blockchain Governance Toolkit: A Cookbook for a Resilient and Robust Ecosystem. Developed by Project Liberty Institute and BlockchainGov, the toolkit outlines five principles to build effective and lasting digital governance.
- Identify and manage governance tradeoffs. Successful digital governance requires balancing competing values, such as the tension between expediency and participation. How do we balance fast decisions by a few or inclusive participation by many?
- Select governance mechanisms. Successful governance requires selecting the proper governance mechanisms, from voting systems to blockchain constitutions.
- Implement safeguards. Safeguards ensure the governance system remains balanced and responsive to community needs, preventing any single approach from becoming too dominant.
- Incorporate feedback loops. Feedback loops are critical mechanisms for evaluating and refining systems' governance.
- Consider legal structures. The final step is to decide whether to create legal entities to complement the digital governance system.
One takeaway from the convening—the DSNP governance working group is now open to everyone. People can join monthly Working Group calls, express their interest in becoming a member of the steering committee, launch a working group on DSNP, or offer their feedback at dsnpfeedback@projectliberty.io. By the end of 2025, DSNP will have an implementable governance framework and the first election of the first DSNP steering committee.
// Governance: a continuous process
Many of us don’t think about who governs and stewards the HTTP protocol, but that governance dictates our ability to access the web every day. The same is true for DSNP.
Designing digital governance isn’t just a technical exercise—it’s a societal one that dictates who gets to decide the rules of our digital lives.
That’s why the governance of protocols matters.
Laying the foundation for a digital future where no single company holds all the power can transform the web. Giving communities a meaningful say in the systems they rely on can transform our relationship with tech.
Work at the governance layer is ongoing, sometimes messy, and always evolving—but that’s exactly what healthy governance looks like. As Sarah Nicole said, “If you ever think your community governance work is done, you’re approaching it wrong.”
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