Farcaster: Balaji Srinivasan’s new 'Network State Protocol' kicks off with bans

A New Era for Farcaster

If you're a Farcaster regular, you might have noticed the vibes are off lately. Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School just acquired the platform from Neynar, and they’ve already started their version of housekeeping. The platform is being rebranded as the "Network State Protocol," and the new team is on a mission to turn it into what they call the "Singapore of social media."

Basically, they want a space for "well-mannered techno-optimists." To get there, they’ve started scrubbing the platform. Numerous users reported that their accounts were moved to "read-only" status on Thursday because of old posts that violated the new, stricter guidelines.

The 'Law and Order' Playbook

Srinivasan is justifying the move as restoring "offline norms" to the internet. According to the announcement, the team used a mix of AI and manual review to scan millions of past posts to identify rule-breakers.

Under this new "Network Code," posts are now classified as "digital felonies, misdemeanors, or infractions." If you're wondering how strict this is: yes, it applies retroactively to your old posts. They’ve also introduced a "social smart contract" where users authorize the team to set the rules.

Not everyone is vibing with this. Kunal Gandhi, the former India ecosystem lead at Eigen Labs, called the immediate crackdown on past content "pretty silly" and argued it clashes with the core ethos of decentralized social media.

Can You Opt Out?

Real talk: if you’re not down for the new rules, you can technically decline the "social smart contract." Doing so puts you in "read-only" mode, but the team notes you keep your keys, funds, followers, and history. The underlying protocol remains open, so you're free to hop to a different client if you're not feeling the new direction.

Looking ahead, Srinivasan plans to reward "constructive behavior" and wants the online community to eventually manifest into physical startup cities and pop-up events.

Why it matters

This is a major pivot for Farcaster, which had 250,000 monthly active users as of late 2025. It’s a high-stakes experiment in whether you can actually enforce "law and order" in a decentralized space without killing the community’s main character energy. Remember, none of this is financial advice, but keep an eye on how the user base reacts to these changes before you decide to move your bags.