Social Blogging Platform AKASHA Nears Public Alpha Release

Censorship has plagued social media platforms for several years, and AKASHA wants to put an end to this scenario. This “next-generation” social media network is powered by the Ethereum world computer and the Inter-Planetary File System (IPFS).

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Can AKASHA Remove Censorship From Social Media?

That will be the main question to answer in the next few years. AKASHA wants to portray itself as the social media network of the future, running on the Ethereum world computer and the Inter-Planetary File System. And what better day to unveil this project than on World Press Freedom Day, which takes place on May 3rd of every year.

Everyone in the world is entitled to their own opinion, but not everyone has the privilege to freely express it these days. This is a serious issue plaguing our civilization, and projects like AKASHA wield the latest advancements in technology to rectify this situation in the future.

Speaking of this technology, the Ethereum protocol can be used for so much more than just facilitating smart contracts or letting users transfer the ETH currency. Addressing the censorship issues of the world with Ethereum technology may seem like a stretch at first, but keep in mind we are living in an information-based society right now.

Imagine a world in which information is allowed to flow freely, without being stored on servers where information can be deleted randomly by a select few people. As a result, information would continue to live on forever, in a network where nodes serve data on-demand to users and nothing is ever forgotten, destroyed, or altered to suit hidden agendas. All of this is what AKASHA wants to achieve in the coming years.

The AKASHA team started developing a prototype of their platform last year using Meteor. Although there is no right or wrong way of developing such a game-changing system, the journey was rather frustrating. Both Ethereum and IPFS have always been used from the start, but the rest of the tech stack has seen some changes. Meteor was replaced by Electron, React, and Node.js.

That platform became the Ethereum world computer, combined with the Inter-Planetary File System. This move opened up exciting new possibilities for the AKASHA platform, which could evolve from ”just another social media platform” into something that has the potential to become the “social fabric for the nascent etherweb.”

People all over the world should envision AKASHA as a decentralized social blogging network, where collaborative journalism and social crowdfunding play a significant role. But in reality, the opportunities extend far beyond these principles as well, as we are only limited by our imagination as to what such a decentralized platform could eventually become.

In the end, the need for servers is completely removed from the equation, and access to all information can be (virtually) guaranteed through IPFS. AKASHA may very well become a new paradigm for Internet publishing in the next few years, although there is still a lot of work to be done.

Speaking of the alpha stage for AKASHA, everyone in the world is welcome to participate and share their thoughts and ideas with the developers. Alpha invites will be sent out to Linux, MacOS, and Windows users in the coming weeks, although no further details have been specified. Having the proper tools to build a better web is one thing, but without community involvement, projects like these will not gain significant traction.

What are your thoughts on the AKASHA project? Let us know in the comments below!

Source: Akasha Blog

Images courtesy of AKASHA, Shutterstock