Balaji’s Farcaster Takeover Triggers Mass Account Bans

Balaji Srinivasan's Network School acquired decentralized social platform Farcaster from Neynar on October 15, immediately introducing a moderation overhaul that restricted multiple user accounts to read-only access. The former Coinbase chief technology officer (CTO) confirmed that human reviewers and artificial intelligence (AI) screened millions of posts before flagging repeat offenders.

Farcaster Changes Hands for the Second Time in 2026

The transaction marks Farcaster's second ownership change this year. Neynar took control from original developer Merkle Manufactory in January after co-founders Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan stepped back from operations. Both were former Coinbase employees who launched the protocol in 2020 with backing from Andreessen Horowitz and other venture firms.Romero disclosed 250,000 monthly active users and more than 100,000 funded wallets as of December 2025, according to crypto.news. Merkle Manufactory planned to return the full $180 million raised from investors after the first transfer.Neynar co-founder Rish confirmed the latest deal includes Farcaster's main application, protocol code repositories and related products. Network School plans to rebrand the protocol as the Network State Protocol, and financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, The Block reported.

Users Report Retroactive Bans Over Older Posts

Restrictions appeared shortly after Network School announced its acquisition. Some users reported that the platform cited older posts as the basis for enforcement, switching accounts to read-only mode. A former Farcaster engineer was among those affected, according to multiple reports from Cointelegraph and CoinCentral.Kunal Gandhi, former India ecosystem lead at Eigen Labs, criticized the retroactive enforcement on X. “Obliterating accounts from the get-go for past posts is pretty silly. Goes against the ethos of decentralized social,” Gandhi wrote, according to Cointelegraph's report, criticizing the decision to penalize users for historical posts.Srinivasan acknowledged that some accounts could be restricted incorrectly and confirmed an appeals process would be available. He did not publish a verified count of suspended accounts, leaving the scope of enforcement unclear.

Network School Targets “Singapore of Social Media” Model

Srinivasan described the intended community as “the Singapore of social media,” comparing the approach with President Nayib Bukele’s crime crackdown in El Salvador. The accompanying Network Code classifies violations as digital felonies, misdemeanors and infractions, with penalties ranging from warnings to permanent bans. Users who accept a new social smart contract retain full access through the main application, while those who decline receive read-only mode. The underlying Farcaster protocol remains open for alternative client developers, allowing users to retain private keys, funds, follower relationships and posting history regardless of moderation decisions on the main app.

Open Protocol Preserves User Exit Options

Bannable offenses under the Network Code include hate speech, death threats, scams, repeatedly starting fights, stalking and passing off AI-generated content as original work, The Block reported. Alternative clients built on the open protocol can set their own moderation rules, meaning developers outside Network School retain the ability to offer unrestricted posting environments.Account holders keep custody of their cryptographic keys and on-chain social graph data under the protocol’s design. That structure separates application-layer moderation from protocol-layer identity, giving restricted users a path to migrate without losing their audience or transaction history.Network School plans to develop the community through physical events at its campus in Astana, Kazakhstan, after Malaysian authorities revoked its Forest City business license earlier in 2026. Srinivasan claimed 92.9% of recorded votes supported the takeover proposal, though that percentage has not been independently verified across all Farcaster users.