8 Jan
2026
8 Jan
'26
9:43 p.m.
Hello everyone,
For those who may not be familiar with it (I wasn't until looking into it
tonight), Digital Independence Day (DI.DAY) is a German initiative by "Save
Social - Networks for Democracy" that aims to raise awareness around
digital sovereignty, vendor independence, and alternatives to centralized
platforms. The campaign combines public messaging with practical actions,
such as curated "recipes" for switching tools and local events that help
people move towards more independent digital infrastructure.
Speaking personally, I do not have objections to the initiative itself, and
I agree that its general goals are well aligned with many of the values
behind XMPP. At the same time, it would be wrong to assume that no one else
might have reservations, or different ideas about how (or whether) XSF
should associate itself with it. That in itself is a key reason for
involving the members-list.
I would also like to suggest that we take a bit of time to think about how
we engage, rather than focusing on a simple public endorsement. At the
moment, the initiative does not list XMPP-specific content or any of our
projects. Promoting it outwardly in its current form may be nice, but
arguably does little to directly benefit our members, our ecosystem, or our
projects.
Instead, I believe we may get much more value by first looking at ways to
leverage this initiative for our community. For example:
- Projects like Snikket or Quicksy could explore whether they qualify to
be added as a "recipe" on the DI.DAY website.
- Even for projects not on the DI.DAY website, we can probably think of
ways to piggy-back on the initiative in a sensible way.
- Some projects might want to participate in or align with the
initiative's recurring local events that help people switch tools and
platforms.
The Communications Team could initially focus on reaching out within our
ecosystem, making projects aware of the initiative and helping them engage
with it where it makes sense. From my perspective, that kind of engagement
would be far more meaningful than a token message of support for an
initiative that does not yet reference our work.
I am very interested in hearing other views on this - both regarding
potential concerns, and ideas for more effective or mutually beneficial
ways of associating ourselves with DI.DAY.
Kind regards,
Guus
On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 7:45 PM E.M. <emus(a)mailbox.org> wrote:
Dear all,
XSF Communication Team basically just intended to ask for permission
from Board. But they ask us to reach out to all of you. So here we go!
Currently there is a new initiative going on from Save Social – Networks
For Democracy. It's called the Digital Independence Day - Di.Day in
Germany. https://di.day/en (Sorry, no English version yet)
While XMPP members already contacted them to list XMPP as recommended
technology as well (we were not involved). Though, we think it is a good
thing, we wanted to ask if anything speaks against supporting this
campaign and aloow higher presence of XMPP as technology?
We are basically asking whether we can write messages in the media
channels like this:
________________
In Germany the word spreads for the "Digital Independence Day"
(https://di.day), and we also find vendor-independent messaging great!
Coincidentally, the first ‘DI.DAY’ was on the anniversary of XMPP,
January 4th!
So let's go for digital independence and sovereignty!
________________
We believe this could get us certain media attention in a significant
big media campaign in Germany.
Best regards,
Eddie