Balaji’s ‘Singapore of social media’ begins with a wave of bans

Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School has begun its reign over the decentralized social platform Farcaster. Its first order of business? An apparent wave of bans that has prompted backlash from members of the decentralized social network. Network School on Thursday announced it has acquired Farcaster from Neynar, rebranding it as the Network State Protocol. The same day, several users said on X that their Farcaster accounts had been restricted to “read-only,” as a result of previous posts that broke its new rules. “I know most of these folks. They shaped Farcaster with their quirks and wit,” said Kunal Gandhi, former India ecosystem lead at Eigen Labs. “Obliterating accounts from the get-go for past posts is pretty silly. Goes against the ethos of decentralized social.”One of the reportedly banned users was a former engineer at Farcaster. Source: Cassie HeartThe overhaul is the latest attempt to find a sustainable direction for Farcaster, which is changing hands for the second time this year. Co-founder Dan Romero said the platform had 250,000 monthly active users in December 2025. Balaji wants the ‘Singapore of social media’ In a post to Farcaster on Thursday, Srinivasan said the ban...