Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic and co-creator of WordPress, has ignited controversy by suspending the WordPress.org accounts of prominent contributors, including Joost de Valk, creator of the widely used Yoast SEO plugin.
The move, which also affected Heather Burns, Sé Reed, and Karim Marucchi, has raised significant concerns about transparency, governance, and the balance of power in one of the world’s largest open-source projects.
Heather Burns is a well-known digital rights advocate and user experience designer who has been actively involved in the WordPress community.
Sé Reed is a long-time member of the WordPress community, a small business advocate, and a web strategist. Reed has been vocal about governance issues within the WordPress ecosystem, often critiquing the perceived imbalance between community-led initiatives and corporate influence.
Karim Marucchi is the CEO of Crowd Favorite, a digital agency that specializes in open-source solutions, including WordPress-based platforms. He has been an advocate for transparency and decentralized governance in the WordPress community, supporting initiatives aimed at preserving the open-source ethos of the platform.
The account deactivations prevent affected contributors from participating in WordPress.org activities, including governance and development discussions.
Mullenweg justified the deactivation of the accounts by stating that the affected individuals had engaged in actions he deemed disruptive to the WordPress community and counterproductive to the platform’s mission.
In a post on the wordpress blog, he argued that their behavior had created unnecessary conflicts that distracted from the project’s goals. Speaking to Computerworld, Mullenweg further elaborated, emphasizing that these steps were necessary to ensure that WordPress.org remained a stable and productive environment for contributors.
He described the decision as difficult but essential for maintaining focus on the open-source project’s long-term success
Critics argue that Mullenweg’s actions reflect deeper systemic issues within WordPress governance, potentially signaling a shift away from the open-source ideals the platform was founded on.
A Community Divided Over Governance
WordPress has long been celebrated for its community-driven ethos. However, this incident highlights tensions within the platform’s governance, with Automattic playing a dominant role in decision-making processes for WordPress.org.
Critics have voiced concerns that Automattic’s dual role as both a commercial entity and a major contributor undermines the decentralization principles of open-source software.
Heather Burns, a digital rights advocate, criticized Mullenweg’s move on X, accusing him of “personal harassment”.
Woke up to a phone full of pings that @photomatt has…publicly announced he’s deactivated an account I haven’t logged into since February 2020, for an OSS project I haven’t been involved with since then, and am not involved with now.
Must have been a bad batch from his dealer. pic.twitter.com/wBnkwgL9Ej
— Heather Burns (@WebDevLaw) January 11, 2025
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go find myself a good looking man with a huge-but-not-so-huge-its-painful cock who fantasises about what I’m capable of as much as that guy apparently does.
— Heather Burns (@WebDevLaw) January 11, 2025
Legal Disputes Add Fuel to the Fire
The timing of the account deactivations coincides with ongoing legal battles between Automattic and WP Engine, a leading managed WordPress hosting provider.
WP Engine has accused Automattic of anti-competitive practices, claiming that Automattic leveraged its influence over WordPress.org to marginalize competitors while promoting its own products, such as Jetpack and WordPress.com hosting.
Automattic has countered these claims, alleging that WP Engine’s actions, backed by private equity firm Silver Lake, are part of a broader strategy to destabilize the WordPress ecosystem.
In December 2024, a federal judge issued an injunction requiring Automattic to restore WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org. The ruling criticized Automattic’s actions, stating that they could harm the broader health of the open-source project. This legal ruling has intensified existing concerns about governance and the influence Automattic exerts over the platform.
The Call for Forking WordPress
In response to these controversies, discussions about forking WordPress have gained traction. Forking, a process in which developers create an independent version of the software, is common in open-source projects and often arises from governance disputes or differing visions for a project’s future.
Joost de Valk and Karim Marucchi have proposed a fork as a means to explore alternative governance structures.
WP Engine has publicly expressed support for a potential fork, describing it as a chance to reinvigorate the community and restore balance in decision-making processes.
We appreciate @jdevalk and @karimmarucchi thoughtful call for constructive conversation, change and evolved leadership within the WordPress community. Moments of disruption challenge all of us to reflect and to act.
WordPress’s success as the most widely used CMS is not the…
— WP Engine (@wpengine) December 20, 2024
Forking and Its Implications
Forking WordPress could have far-reaching implications for the platform and its community. A successful fork would allow developers to explore new governance models, modernize the technology stack, and potentially address long-standing issues related to Automattic’s influence.
However, it could also fragment the community and dilute resources, potentially weakening WordPress’s position as a leader in the CMS market.
Forking has been a common practice in open-source history. Notable examples include LibreOffice, which was forked from OpenOffice, and MariaDB, a fork of MySQL. Both cases highlight how forks can lead to innovation and renewed focus, but they also underscore the challenges of maintaining cohesion within a community.
Governance Challenges in Open Source
The current conflict in the WordPress community underscores broader challenges in the governance of open-source projects. WordPress, which powers over 40% of the web, has become a vital part of the internet’s infrastructure.
However, as its scale and influence have grown, so too have concerns about how its governance aligns with the principles of transparency, inclusivity, and decentralization.
The dual nature of WordPress, with WordPress.org as a community-driven open-source project and WordPress.com as a commercial product owned by Automattic, has created persistent tension.
Critics argue that Automattic’s significant influence over WordPress.org governance gives it an unfair advantage in the commercial space while diminishing the role of the broader community.
