Discord as a MIMI protocol

[erkinalp]

This ticket is going to be a bit unusual.

Once the Digital Market Act of the EU is in force, instant messengers ("number-independent interpersonal communication services" as described in the EU law) that want to serve the users in the EU are going to be required to interoperate. To facilitate interoperability amongst instant messengers, an IETF working group called MIMI has been created. Various providers have joined this group, some proposing their existing protocols to be used as the interoperable one, others proposing entirely new protocols serving this purpose. To facilitate interoperability, Discord is going to have to do one of those:

• Propose Discord's client-server API as an interoperable instant messaging API for MIMI
• Adopt the interoperable API adopted by MIMI alongside the existing one
• Scrap the current API altogether and implement the interoperable API by MIMI as the only one going forward

The latter two options might undermine the API assumptions that attract casual chatters, gamers and many bots in the first place. If the first option is taken, it is going to be easiest for Discord too, as Discord would not need to re-architecture their services.

Note that Discord is currently not considered a gatekeeper according to that act, hence not required to interoperate, however this might not be the case forever.

[panley01]

To my understanding, Discord will not meet the definition of a gatekeeper unless the service changes significantly. Discord does not meet the definition of a Core Platform Service, and even if the definition provided by the EU expands, I do not believe Discord will be a large enough market dominator to come under the definition either. Where AWS or CloudFlare is absolutely a CPS as it's internet infrastructure companies rely on to serve customers, Discord does not meet that definition, even if it were to restrucutre entirely to focus on app subs/server subs. In the case Discord does become an intermediary, it's impact is still arguable. It has market competitors currently and would have more if it were to refocus on being an intermediary. And finally, Discord's position is definately not durable. It currenlty enjoys a large market share in a niche market, but that position is not as entrenched as platforms like Google that this act is targeting.

I'll be interested to see how this act evolves over time, but I don't think Discord should be concerned about this act, nor should they take pre-emptive action on API restructuring to be inter-operable.