Escape ID checks & censorship by using decentralised protocols
Lessons from someone who has actually DONE it
In this episode of the Actionable Truth Podcast I was joined by Australian musician and songwriter Matt Finlay.
Matt has taken a very proactive and solutions-based approach to the increasingly hostile online environment we are all facing, including the increasingly ubiqituous "age verification" and other measures of online censorship (both overt & covert such as "shadowbanning").
Matt's approach is based on using decentralised tools and focus on protocols rather than platforms with Nostr playing a pivotal role in his approach.
Matt and I discussed what lead him to embark on this journey and some of the specific tools he uses himself as well as his own self-hosted alternative to Linktree, which he created after his content was deemed inappropriate by that platform.
Where to watch?
You can watch this episode in full below as well as on Rumble and Odysee
Where to listen?
You can listen to the episode below or anywhere else you get your podcasts, with the exception of Spotify.
A sample of Matt's music
Click for the full portfolioThis is the first music video Matt published
This was released in August 2020 and marked the start of Matt's journey as a dissident musician:
The "Daddy Government" music video
Matt released this song and video in the lead up to the "age verification" measures kicking in Australia on December 10, 2025.
Michael Ginsburg
Matt collaborated with Australian podcaster Robyn from Courage is the Cure who contributed supporting vocals and is also featured in the video (which is quite hilarious):
Here is the joint broadcast they did for the world premier of the song a few days before the "age verification" D-DAY in Australia:
Matt's proactive approach
Which I hope will inspire other musicians & artists
Since the "age verification" measures kicked-in in Australia, Matt has been very proactive in his attempts to find alternatives and avoid any instances of "papers please" and other nonsense across the web.
He was also very diligent in sharing and documenting his journey as he was looking for other options:
The tools & services Matt and I discussed
There were several tools and services Matt has come across throughout his journey and started using as alternatives to centralised platforms like Spotify:
Generate a Podcasting 2.0 RSS feed for free
Musicians can upload their music to their own website or wherever they want and publish it as a podcast/music show through an RSS feed they self-host and is fully compliant with Podcasting 2.0 specification, including direct financial support through value for value.
Podcast listening app with built-in wallet to support musicians and podcasters through micro-payments
Decentralised alternative to Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music
Nostr clients
Because Nostr is a PROTOCOL rather than a platform, you can choose whatever client software/service you want to access it.
Most of the these clients will also allow you to create your key pair (public key as the 'user name' and private key as the 'password') which will serve as your Nostr identity and the gateway to use this protocol through any app, service or website which supports this protocol. This is definitely the case for the three options provided below.
This is what Matt uses as his primary Nostr client:
This is another good option which I have tested myself and found to be very beginner-friendly:
The third option combines the social media features offered by Primal with the decentralised music listening & discovery offered by Sunami, as well as serving as a decentralised TikTok alternative:
Use your Nostr identity as an email address
There is also one tool which I came across myself very recently which I think is also worth highlighting in this context:
The way this service works is by allowing you to use your Nostr identity (the private/public key pair) as an email address with Nostr Mail acting as the email client/software.
You can use this to email anyone else with a Nostr identity but (and this is the 'killer feature' imho), you can also use this to send and receive email to/from any traditional email address.
I will not get into the technical details of how this works but will say that I have tested this tool myself and it works great! It is also pretty straight forward to use and thus usable for beginners. The user interface (UI) is also pretty straight forward and will be familiar to anyone who has ever used outlook, thunderbird or any other email client or webmail service (such as Gmail).
Nostr Mail is available as a web app and you can also download an Android app (provided you can sideload it on your Android device and know how to do that) or a desktop app for Linux as either a .deb or .appimage file.
I've tested the Linux desktop app and it works great with a UI that is essentially identical to that of the web app.
njump - Preview and share Nostr content anywhere using a simple link
njump allows anyone to share Nostr user profiles, notes and even longer blog posts easily and quickly.
When sharing a Nostr profile, njump will also display a selection of Nostr clients people can use to access the protocol and view the profile.
As an example, here is a preview of my Nostr profile created using njump:
ActionableTruth
The best places to find Matt's content
as well as support his work
Matt's website & (self-hosted) Linktree alternative:
Matt's podcast dedicated to featuring artists releasing their work througn the value-for-value model:
Matt's profile on bandcamp featuring all his albums:
Matt uses the "pay what you want/can" model for most of the music released through there.
Follow Matt on Nostr (through Primal or any other Nostr client of your choice):
To allow me to continue this work and expand it further and in pursuit of the mission to “Tell the Truth…and shame the devil”, your financial contribution is greatly appreciated.
