2025-10-18 –, Ada Byron
Matrix has become a key enabler of secure, sovereign communication. But the moment it connects to external chat platforms like WhatsApp, it is violating the data privacy characteristics that made it attractive in the first place.
Traditional bridges expose user metadata - who talked to whom, when, and from where - to foreign-controlled services. Polychat proposes a new approach. Rather than mapping Matrix users directly to external accounts, it acts as a depersonalized relay - external services only ever "see" the Polychat bot. Originally created to make cross-platform chat intuitive for non-technical users, Polychat’s architecture has emerged as a surprisingly elegant way to retain metadata.
As the founder of the project and a user experience designer by background, I will share how our design choices inadvertently solved regulatory challenges, and why the Matrix ecosystem - especially public sector leaders - should be interested in the development of the Polychat idea.
Nadine Minagawa is a graphic and user experience designer with over 25 years of experience, working at the intersection of digital inclusion, civic tech, and open-source communication tools. She is the founder of Polychat, a GDPR-conscious bridging service designed to make cross-platform group chats accessible to non-technical users - without compromising data sovereignty.
Nadine brings a strong user-centered perspective to issues of interoperability and compliance. Her work aims to make secure, federated communication systems usable and beneficial - for everyone. She is also an active contributor to the Matrix ecosystem, member of the Matrix Events Team, and - with Polychat - member of the Matrix Foundation.