WhatsApp introduces ads in its app

Can we get a federated messenger already?

Sure, we have email, but the MS/Google duopoloy has effectively unfederated that, with their inscrutable block lists and nonexistent appeals processes, allegedly in order to protect you from spam.

Sure, XMPP is a thing, which has been mostly dead for well over a decade.

Sure, Matrix is a thing, but every time I look at it, all I see is criticism of its specifications and poor interoperability between implementations?

What would it take to sort out this mess? More money for Matrix or XMPP? Someone with enough clout to promote them? I'm sure organizations like the UN or the EU would, in theory, be in favour of an effective global communicator. But those same organizations would like rail against encryption and decentralisation.

We do not need federated messaging at the consumer app level, we need a replacement that's available at the cellular network level (just like SMS). RCS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services) is trying to do this, but it might be too little too late.

How do you use that on your devices that aren’t using GSM?

GSM is long dead but yes you need a SIM and a MNO as the connection is provisioned using IMS service entitlement.