Must see from @euronews

Must see from @euronews

Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?

: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/01/29/fact-check-is-the-eu-launching-a-social-media-platform-called-w

"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"

[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."

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@_elena @euronews

For god's sake, this W story is more ridiculous over time

@_elena

Ouch! Also involved with Flo? Such a terrible, distasteful invasion of health privacy. Who would trust those involved with user data?

Thanks for sharing this Elena!

@crecente yes! someone sent me this tip and Zeiter still has a page on Flo's website: https://flo.health/about-us/anna-zeiter

I couldn't find the message (I had pretty much a hundred mentions a day this week) but I will look for the source to credit them in my article.

My Fediverse sources / researchers are THE BEST

Must see from @euronews

Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?

: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/01/29/fact-check-is-the-eu-launching-a-social-media-platform-called-w

"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"

[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."

Please share widely

@davey_cakes wait until you read what I found... publishing something early next week right after FOSDEM

@pink @_elena @euronews what does the Mastodon instance have to do with W?

Must see from @euronews

Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?

: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/01/29/fact-check-is-the-eu-launching-a-social-media-platform-called-w

"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"

[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."

Please share widely

@UlrikeHahn it works. But W does not

@pink @_elena @euronews

@UlrikeHahn it works. But W does not

@pink @_elena @euronews

Must see from @euronews

Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?

: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/01/29/fact-check-is-the-eu-launching-a-social-media-platform-called-w

"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"

[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."

Please share widely

Must see from @euronews

Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?

: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/01/29/fact-check-is-the-eu-launching-a-social-media-platform-called-w

"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"

[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."

Please share widely

Must see from @euronews

Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?

: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/01/29/fact-check-is-the-eu-launching-a-social-media-platform-called-w

"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"

[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."

Please share widely

@karlos totally fabricated. The EU went on the record to rectify the misleading claims @hpod16

@_elena @euronews

I think that, at W, they were also a bit ambiguous in their communication and that add up with the ugly and superficial media coverage.

Not a great start for a commercial project

Must see from @euronews

Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called #WSocial?

: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/01/29/fact-check-is-the-eu-launching-a-social-media-platform-called-w

"A spokesperson for the European Commission told The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, that the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform, and that there is currently no EU-backed project called "W"

[...] W is a privately owned social media start-up incorporated in Sweden, backed by private investors mainly from the Nordic region."

Please share widely

@_elena @euronews And not a single mention.of Mastodon, which is arguably the actual X alternative this startup wants to become.

@renef @_elena @euronews W is not positioning itself as a Mastodon alternative. It's a centrally operated platform with algorithms, fundamentally different from Mastodon's federated model. W requires mandatory identity verification (to reduce bots) while Mastodon prioritizes pseudonymity. Very different beasts.

@inVinnieVeritas @_elena @euronews W still acts as if there is no alternative to US social media, which is just bullshit.

@renef @inVinnieVeritas

the people behind it are not techies and it shows.

The CEO spoke of a social media network on European cloud infrastructure as if it was a miraculous thing / never seen before.

HELLO? There are thousands of Fediverse instances fully hosted in Europe. And now some Bluesky PDSs too (only mentioning it because W is a fork of Bluesky).

I’d be shocked if W gets any traction / is still around a year from now