Must see from @euronews

@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

@_elena @inVinnieVeritas I think it's fine they're trying, competition never hurts. What I personally dislike is how the media is ignoring Mastodon. I realize it's harder to use than "traditional" social media services, but that is no reason to act as if it doesn't exist.

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

@_elena @euronews

Why would anyone want to join government-owned social media platform?

@sharan why would anyone want to join a billionaire-owned social media platform? 🫠

@_elena I dunno. I was there, I'm not anymore. But having government as a failsafe for billionaires - I mean, the majority of those are in their pockets.

I think Mastodon is the only viable option at the moment.

@sharan watch out you may draw the ire of Fedi enthusiasts. Maybe we can say that the Fediverse (with all its FOSS software solutions) is the only viable option?

There’s so much good stuff here, from Friendica to Sharkey, GoToSocial, PeerTube. Something for everyone ️

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 This is quite strange, since the EU seems to host a mastodon instance for the officials https://ec.social-network.europa.eu/explore

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

@_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

@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