I am actually worried about the self-hosting pandemic. We self-hosters will stop flying under the radar. Wonder how long it will take until our matrix instances require to be backdoored, our immich are scanning our pictures with AI.
On an unrelated note, an article of how to rent a VPS in China would be interesting :)
Matrix server backdoors aren't an issue though? It's about the client where decryption happens. If those aren't required to upload decrypted contents, you can always overlay some encryption protocol like OTR over any chat mechanism. I remember using it on MSN via Pidgin
Don't worry about the servers. Worry about mandated software on the client