Network School Rebrands Farcaster as Users Report Posting Bans

Several Farcaster users said Oct. 15 that they had lost the ability to post over older content and were left with read-only access. Their reports came the day Network School announced it had acquired Farcaster from Neynar and was rebranding the platform as Network State Protocol. The transfer marks Farcaster’s second ownership change this year.

Network School’s framework centers on a “social smart contract” that gives its core team authority to set rules for the app. The accompanying Network Code covers both past and new posts, classifying violations as digital felonies, misdemeanors or infractions. Penalties range from warnings and suspensions to bans.

Users who decline the contract would keep read-only access in the main app while retaining their keys, funds, followers and post history. They could use those accounts and content through another client. The Farcaster protocol will remain open.

Network School founder Balaji Srinivasan has described his goal as creating “the Singapore of social media,” a community of techno-optimists governed by shared conduct rules. Human reviewers and AI examined millions of posts, and users whose accounts were restricted could appeal.

The code also describes rewards for constructive activity, including teaching others, sharing projects and disagreeing civilly, though it does not define the rewards. Network School plans to use an open-weight AI model with some human review and eventually warn users about possible violations before they post.

Kunal Gandhi, a former India ecosystem lead at Eigen Labs, criticized applying the rules to older content. “Obliterating accounts from the get-go for past posts is pretty silly,” he said.