As we introduced in our previous article WordPress Officially Bans WP Engine, WordPress has decided to take a clear stance against WP Engine, in a move that has raised a lot of controversy and discussion. In that article, we provided a brief summary of the situation, explaining how WordPress has banned WP Engine from their platform or rather from their repositories, raising questions about the appropriateness and impartiality of this decision.
Later, we went into more detail about this topic in another article titled WordPress.org Bans WP Engine: Here's Why Matt Mullenweg Is Clearly Wrong, where we analyzed in detail the GPL 2 license under which WordPress was released, demonstrating how Mullenweg's decision contradicts the founding principles of the open source project. The GPL 2 license in fact guarantees the freedom of users and developers to use, modify and redistribute the software, and the ban imposed in retaliation seems to violate precisely these fundamental principles.
Following this in-depth analysis, we have decided to intervene directly on the issue ccommenting on a post on the official WordPress Facebook page. Our comment, based on documented and correct technical and legal considerations, highlighted the inconsistencies in the decision taken by WordPress and Matt Mullenweg. We expressed our disagreement in a calm and professional manner, trying to stimulate a constructive dialogue as you can read in the original screen in English below (and relative translation in Italian below).
I don’t understand where the problem is. After all, WordPress is GPL-licensed software, so it can be modified and redistributed, even in a very invasive way, without having to inform anyone. Let’s also remember that WP Engine uses WordPress software as a software-as-a-service or, at most, as a platform-as-a-service model. Therefore, according to the GPL license, they are not even obliged to share the source code.
I don’t even understand under what obligation Matt Mullenweg DEMANDS that WP Engine pays anything or contributes to the project or community efforts. Ethically and morally, you may be right, but LEGALLY, ABSOLUTELY NOT. The GPL license does not require you to give anything back, neither financially nor in terms of contributions to the community. Therefore, what you are doing is illegitimate and illegal, dear MATT.
As far as trademarking goes, WP ENGINE is not confusing. WP stands for WordPress but is not licensed or trademarked, and as you and AUTOMATTIC state, it can be used. If it were called “WordPress Engine,” you would be right, but it is called WP Engine, so dear MATT, you are OBVIOUSLY WRONG here too.
I believe this move is simply intended to push consumers towards automated solutions, such as WordPress.com or Automattic's other high-performance hosting services, WP-VIP.com or Pressable.
It's time to step back, dear MATT, and for the WordPress community to distance itself from a toxic figure like you.
To our great surprise, last night, now a few days after the comment, we noticed that our comment was promptly removed and our account was banned from the page.
While it may seem incredible that a company of the size and prestige of Automattic, promoter of the most famous open source CMS in the world, would stoop to practices that we could define, to put it mildly, worthy of a capricious child, this is exactly what happened. Despite the image of openness and transparency that WordPress tries to promote, we have witnessed blatantly censorious and unprofessional behavior. In the video below, we clearly show how the official WordPress Facebook page is accessible and visible to anyone who is not logged into Facebook. However, when you log in with our account – evidently blocked for expressing an inconvenient but technically well-founded opinion – the page suddenly becomes unreachable. This behavior demonstrates a clear attempt to filter and hide criticism, instead of opening a constructive dialogue and engaging with different opinions.
This episode clearly demonstrates how WordPress and, specifically, Automattic’s leadership, rather than welcoming constructive and fact-based criticism, choose to stifle voices that dare to question their decisions. Our analysis was in fact based on rigorously documented technical and legal considerations and was free from offensive tones. Yet, the reaction was to delete the comment and prevent further interactions, a sign of a deliberate desire to avoid public debate, especially when this could highlight possible errors or inconsistencies in their choices.
This form of censorship should be a cause for reflection for the entire WordPress community, which has always been based on the principles of openness, collaboration, and transparency. If even a platform born to be a bastion of free speech and open source development begins to close itself off and stifle dissent, what can we expect for the future? The community risks becoming an environment where only voices aligned with management have space, and anyone who dares to raise legitimate criticisms, based on concrete and technical foundations, could be excluded or silenced. This raises a troubling question: is WordPress truly championing software freedom and transparency, or is it gradually transforming into a controlled, authoritarian environment?
We urge all our readers to stay informed and not be intimidated by these practices. Keep following our blog for further updates on this story and other topics related to the world of WordPress and hosting.
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