Must see from @euronews

@luca
#PostOfTheWeek (season 3):
Viral posts claiming the EU is launching its own social media platform to counter X, in the wake of various scandals, are misleading.
Claims are spreading online that the European Union is building its own social media platform to replace X, with posts alleging that a new network called "W" will be funded by taxpayers and run as a censorship tool.

@luca
Posts, shared widely on X, claim the project is backed by Brussels, financed by taxpayers' money and designed to impose EU oversight on online speech.

One post, viewed more than 60,000 times, claims that "500 million of our tax money will be spent on a censorship system in which everything is checked, corrected and eliminated".

Another, with more than 570,000 views, claims that the European Union "is releasing W".

@renef @inVinnieVeritas I thought you meant « Mastadon » right?

Terrible joke but that’s how the media usually spell it… it’s as if they either ignore it on purpose or completely fumble their coverage (like Radio France yesterday that ran with a piece that claimed Eugen had quit his own network out of frustration with user behavior). Excuse me, what? It’s unbelievable

@luca
But 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".

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

@fosdembsd Why would you say that is strange? This is exactly what should happen, organisations that want control over their communications have their own instance, but are not in control of the network.

@ahltorp @fosdembsd it is a bit strange because of the quote "the EU is not launching or funding any social media platform". Partly because the EU runs a mastodon instance (hence "not launching" is weird), and they fund(ed) I think Mastodon, goto social and possibly others through Next Generation Internet (sub)grants.

@reynir @ahltorp @fosdembsd

An 'instance' isn't the same as a 'platform'.

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

@gsymon how do they differ?