Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has issued a renewed call for the development and adoption of decentralized social media platforms, positioning them as essential for building a healthier society. In a detailed post on X, Buterin announced his personal commitment, stating, "In 2026, I plan to be fully back to decentralized social." He framed this shift as a direct response to the deep structural flaws in dominant, centralized platforms, arguing that current systems optimize for short-term engagement rather than user well-being or high-quality discourse.
Buterin emphasized that decentralization enables real competition by allowing multiple client applications to be built atop shared, open data layers. This architecture reduces the monopolistic power of any single interface or algorithm. He cited his own experience using Firefly, a multi-client interface supporting X, Lens, Farcaster, and Bluesky, as evidence that decentralized tools can coexist with and gradually draw attention away from centralized giants.
The Ethereum founder was sharply critical of many crypto-native social projects, lambasting their focus on speculative tokens over genuine innovation. He argued that repeatedly attempting to financialize social influence has failed, often rewarding pre-existing social capital rather than content quality and leading tokens to trend toward zero. He dismissed the notion that creating new markets is inherently beneficial, labeling such rhetoric "galaxy-brained" and the resulting platforms as "corposlop."
For decentralized social media to succeed, Buterin contends it must be led by teams deeply invested in solving social problems, not chasing hype. He praised the Aave team's stewardship of the Lens Protocol and expressed optimism for its next phase. Buterin plans to post more actively on Lens in 2026 and encouraged users to engage across Lens, Farcaster, and the broader decentralized social ecosystem to move beyond a "single global info warzone."
