Balaji Srinivasan's Farcaster Takeover Brings Immediate Wave of Bans
Account bans follow Farcaster acquisition
Balaji Srinivasan's Network School has taken over the decentralized social platform Farcaster and immediately began banning users. The acquisition from Neynar was announced on Thursday, the same day multiple users reported their accounts were restricted to "read-only" access for past posts that violated new rules.
The sudden cleanup drew criticism from members of the network. Kunal Gandhi, former India ecosystem lead at Eigen Labs, called the moves "pretty silly" and said they went against the ethos of decentralized social media.
The new rules and what they target
Srinivasan said the goal is to turn Farcaster into "the Singapore of social media" — a community of techno-optimists bound by a shared code of conduct. He compared the approach to former El Salvador President Nayib Bukele's crackdown on repeat offenders, saying the bans target a small fraction of users who repeatedly offended others.
Both human moderators and AI reviewed millions of posts to identify violators. An appeals process has been put in place for banned users.
How the new system works
Users must opt into a "social smart contract" that authorizes Network School's core team to set and enforce app rules. Violations are classified as digital felonies, misdemeanors, or infractions, with penalties ranging from warnings and suspensions to full bans. The rules apply retroactively to past posts.
The system also promises rewards for constructive behavior like teaching others, sharing projects, and disagreeing civilly, though no specific rewards were detailed. An open-weight AI model will apply the rules, with some manual oversight, and Network School eventually wants to warn users before they post potentially violating content.
The underlying Farcaster protocol remains open. Users who decline the contract keep their keys, funds, followers, and post history but will have read-only access to the main app. They can use other clients instead.
What is still unclear
Network School did not disclose how many accounts were banned or provide a breakdown of violations by category. It is also unconfirmed whether the banned users had previously been muted or blocked by other accounts, as Srinivasan claimed.
Why this matters
Farcaster is changing hands for the second time this year, highlighting ongoing struggles to find a sustainable direction. The platform had 250,000 monthly active users as of December 2025, according to co-founder Dan Romero. The bans raise questions about how decentralized social networks balance open protocols with centralized moderation decisions.
Network School's broader ambition extends beyond social media. Srinivasan said the online community could eventually take physical form through meetups, pop-up events, startup cities, and network states. The move comes after Malaysian authorities revoked Network School's Forest City business license earlier this year, prompting an agreement to establish a campus in Kazakhstan.
Sources
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