Nostr, the Digital Resistance in the Age of Censorship
Nostr is small, pioneering, with an intense community and a clear vision: to build something that resists censorship, cannot be erased and works without asking permission.
Students of the "Nostr: What, How, Why?" course ·
In 2025, Nostr feels like Bitcoin in 2012. It is small and pioneering, with an intense community and a clear vision: to build something that resists censorship, that cannot be erased, and that works without asking for permission. At this early stage, still misunderstood by the “mainstream”, it is laying the foundations for a new way of communicating on the internet. Just as Bitcoin offered an alternative to the centralized financial system, Nostr offers a way out of the monopoly of the big social networks.
“Nostr in 2025 looks a lot like Bitcoin in 2012. It isn’t perfect, but it works. It’s small, but it’s growing. And most importantly: it doesn’t need permission to keep moving forward.” - Vitor Pamplona, creator of Amethyst, in Bitcoin Magazine
In a world increasingly governed by centralized platforms that control what we see, say and share, the Nostr protocol emerges as a revolutionary tool. With an open, growing architecture, free of intermediaries and permissions, Nostr lets us take back control of our digital communication. This article brings together several real cases, from the censorship of journalists to massive data leaks, to show how Nostr stands out as a viable and urgent alternative.
The Turkey and Bluesky Case
In April 2025, the Turkish government asked Bluesky to restrict access to 72 accounts, citing national security reasons. Bluesky partially complied, blocking 59 accounts at the internet provider level and making 13 accounts and one post inaccessible within the country. Although Bluesky is built on a decentralized protocol, this action showed that there are still points of control vulnerable to government pressure.
And what would Nostr do?
Thanks to its design with no central servers and no company behind it, Nostr lets information flow freely even in the face of national blocks. Each client and relay can act independently, making it extremely difficult to impose total censorship. In addition, applications built on Nostr do not depend on an authority that can be pressured, which strengthens their resistance to this kind of attack.
Leaks in Consumer Apps
Consum and El Corte Inglés suffered cyberattacks that compromised their users’ personal data. Incidents like these have become recurrent in systems that require emails, phone numbers and passwords. The companies involved reported unauthorized access to information such as first name, last name, email address and even home addresses.
The case shows that, even in everyday commercial settings, our privacy depends on entities that are often not prepared to safeguard it. As the contributor points out: “The risk, in my opinion, lies not so much in social networks as in handing your personal data to entities incapable of safeguarding it.”
What if we used keys instead of emails?
Nostr proposes authentication through public/private keys, with no need to store sensitive data. If it isn’t collected, it can’t be leaked.
Information Control in Navigation Apps
By: Flor Trotta
Spain’s DGT (traffic authority) is seeking to restrict the use of Waze and Telegram to report police checkpoints. Although the argument is road safety, this limits the flow of information between citizens. Some outlets mention that the proposal is inspired by the French model, where this kind of alert is banned.
Flor puts it clearly: “Banning citizens from sharing information should be considered an obstacle to freedom of expression, using the pursuit of better road safety as an excuse to curtail basic rights.”
Nostr doesn’t ask for permission
In a decentralized network, users can share alerts without depending on platforms subject to legal or technical censorship. Nostr offers a distributed, resilient channel for this kind of citizen message.
The Facebook Breach
By: Pedro Merino
In 2021, the data was leaked of 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries. The exposed information included phone numbers, email addresses and dates of birth. The vulnerability was exploited between 2018 and 2019 through scraping techniques, but Facebook never notified those affected after discovering the problem.
Pedro notes: “The incident exposed millions of people to the risk of fraud and identity theft, and ended with a 265 million euro fine from the EU.”
What if there were no single point of failure?
Nostr is decentralized by design. There is no single database to attack, no millions of profiles to exploit. Each identity is generated from cryptographic keys, which removes the need to collect sensitive information. Everything depends on the user.
WikiLeaks and Financial Censorship
By: Start Now To Live
In 2010, WikiLeaks was blocked by Visa, PayPal and other financial platforms after publishing confidential US government documents, in an act of censorship with no judicial backing. In response, it began accepting donations in Bitcoin, demonstrating the value of a network without intermediaries.
In Julian Assange’s words in 2011: “Bitcoin is the real occupation. We can use it to resist financial censorship.” That moment marked a turning point for those looking for tools resistant to political and economic pressure.
Nostr is to speech what Bitcoin is to money
Both remove intermediaries. On Nostr, messages travel between users without depending on servers that can be pressured or shut down. Just as Bitcoin made it possible to sustain WikiLeaks despite the financial blockade, Nostr lets information survive a communication blockade. The protocol’s decentralized architecture means no actor has absolute control, and uncomfortable voices cannot be silenced by the unilateral decision of a third party.
App Stores: The Gatekeepers of Software
By: Mark (madradelrey)
Both Google and Apple impose restrictive conditions for distributing apps. Free or decentralized software faces barriers to entry and verification. Users often have to trust whatever the stores decide to offer, without being able to audit or choose freely.
Zappstore and Nostr to the rescue
Zappstore was born as a response to this limitation, within the Nostr ecosystem. Inspired by the philosophy of open source and decentralization, Zappstore lets you list, install and verify applications without depending on Apple or Google. Instead of closed certificates, developers sign their apps with public keys, and users can verify that identity through the developer’s Nostr profile.
It also introduced the concept of decentralized rewards: developers can receive zaps directly from users as a thank-you, while app testers and reviewers can be rewarded too. This model creates a feedback loop between creators and community, aligned with the values of digital sovereignty. With projects like Zappstore, built on Nostr, apps can be validated and distributed peer to peer, with their development incentivized through zaps.
Censorship of the Climate Debate
By: Rosa MF
LinkedIn removed posts by scientists such as Richard Lindzen and John Christy, who criticized the methodology used to calculate the global average temperature. In their article, they stated: “If one wishes to manipulate the result, all one has to do is choose which stations to include and how to adjust them.”
This perspective was quickly suppressed under accusations of “climate disinformation”. Meanwhile, an open letter signed by several organizations demanded that social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Google and Twitter adopt stricter policies against this content.
Nostr allows disagreement
On Nostr clients, tags like #climatechange let you find articles both for and against the climate consensus. Unlike platforms that filter out dissent, Nostr encourages free and open debate, essential for the advancement of scientific knowledge; it makes room for multiple perspectives and, instead of suppressing debates, enables them.
The Lorenzo Ramírez Case
By: anonymous-one
This Spanish journalist has repeatedly denounced censorship and demonetization on platforms such as YouTube and Spotify for covering sensitive topics such as COVID-19, the US elections, and the role of global elites. In one of his most talked-about episodes, he said: “The fear of losing your livelihood for saying what you think is shaping an entire generation of creators.” Many of his videos have been labeled “conspiracy theories”, restricted or removed outright. This situation has led Ramírez to openly question the role of algorithms in shaping public opinion.
With Nostr, the audience is in charge
With no algorithms rewarding or punishing opinions, content lives or dies based on users’ genuine interest. On Nostr, every post is cryptographically signed and can be hosted on multiple relays. Moderation is decentralized, and each community can define its own rules without a single entity having the power to censor globally.
An Inevitable Conclusion
These cases reflect a clear pattern: on traditional social networks, journalists can be suspended for arbitrary reasons; citizens can be prevented from sharing alerts or public information; and personal data can be exposed on a massive scale because platforms are unable (or unwilling) to protect it. Even the newest platforms, with decentralized approaches, have shown that under state pressure they can apply regional blocks. We have also seen how critical content creators or scientists with dissenting positions are censored, demonetized or pushed out of the digital conversation.
All of this happens while we depend on closed “App Stores”, opaque algorithms and moderation rules imposed from above. In every case, Nostr offers a working, permissionless alternative, where identity is sovereign, content is resilient and conversation is free.
Nostr is a coherent, functional and growing response to this digital crisis. More than a social network, it is a protocol that redefines user sovereignty on the internet. It isn’t perfect, but it is unstoppable.
Censorship resistance is no longer a futuristic idea. It is underway, and it’s called Nostr.
We invite you to learn more and dig deeper into these topics in our online courses at La Librería de Satoshi, where we explore decentralized technologies, digital privacy and tools like Nostr, Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. We look forward to seeing you!