Farcaster acquired by Balaji’s Network School, with new 'social smart contract' for users

Decentralized social network Farcaster is changing hands for the second time this year, and its new owner is asking users to accept rules governing their posts or lose the ability to participate.

Balaji Srinivasan's Network School acquired Farcaster from Neynar, which took over the platform from its original developer, Merkle Manufactory, in January. Financial terms have not yet been released.

Neynar co-founder Rish said Thursday that the company is transferring the "Farcaster app, protocol repositories and related products" to Network School after considering several other offers.

"Farcaster needs a different operating model for its next stage," he wrote. Rish and fellow co-founder Manan will move on, while other Neynar employees will join Network School to continue developing Farcaster.

Neynar's January acquisition also included token launchpad Clanker. Rish's announcement did not mention what will happen to Clanker, but GM Farcaster hosts Adrienne and NourishProf said on a Thursday stream that Rish was considering "breaking Clanker apart and looking for a different acquirer."

An in-app announcement says Farcaster is becoming the "Network State Protocol," which says it wants to "build a network of opt-in digital societies which ultimately gets printed out in the physical world."

Users are then prompted with a choice to accept or decline a "social smart contract," agreeing to follow the app's new rules. Users who opt in get an access NFT confirming their choice onchain.

Bannable offenses, which it calls "digital felonies," include hate speech, death threats, scams, repeatedly starting fights, stalking users, and passing off AI-generated content as your own, among others.

Users who wish to decline the contract will get read-only access through the main app. Their keys, funds, followers, and post history will then get moved to another client.

The new app also plans to require users to verify they are human to cut back on bot activity.

Several users on X have already reported being banned over posts they made about Elon Musk, Flock cameras, and "gay appreciation" that were at least three months old. The Block has not independently verified the bans.