> Alternatively, if the geographic constraints are a showstopper for you, please let us know.
It's not even that they are a showstopper (even though they are obviously against the interests of anyone who likes the very idea of Matrix), they just seem to be completely pointless, which even a malevolent party (Meta) must admit. I mean, I am no expert in how to deal with passive-agressive bureaucrats, but you must admit they are extremely easy to bypass. Just enable a VPN and poof, you are in Europe, as far as Matrix server is concerned. So why force users to jump over these hoops, if you know they won't really stop anybody? I do get they don't want it to be convenient, but they can't deny it's pointless.
Could this perhaps be leveraged to make Matrix groups accessible in Whatsapp? I don't really care about 1:1 chats, SMS is usually good enough for them.
> In terms of not allowing open federation: this looks unlikely to change, given Meta needs to know who is responsible for the servers who connect to them, and ensure they agree to the terms of use as required by DMA.
Does this mean that only matrix.org and (maybe?) other select servers will be allowed to interop?
Will a user from another matrix instance be able to use the matrix.org WhatsApp bridge or would that not be possible due to an inability to share the user's IP with WhatsApp?