Thanks for the extra information. In the original post, you refer to “technical and abuse issues” and imply this has been going on for some time. Is that something you’re please able to shed more light on?

Indeed, and thank you, I will continue to watch this space!

I mean that you can’t subscribe unless you pay through Google Play or the App Store. So if one doesn’t use those because of privacy concerns, or other ethical concerns, then there’s no way to subscribe.

As someone who’s been using Element on the matrix.org homeserver for years now, I wasn’t aware of long-standing issues. Is anyone please able to provide more information?

A shame they haven’t figured out a way to subscribe for those opting out of the Google/Apple ecosystems, but I will watch this space!