The European Commission falls for openness theater by working with W Social

The European Commission has moved its profiles to W Social. That's a terrible decision.

W Social Isn't New. It Isn't Truly European. It Isn't Even Theirs. - Ewan’s Blog

Another rant on this “European” alternative

W Social, public institutions and the theater of European digital sovereignty | Hacker News

And weirdly, there was never a peep about this in the press - while the W Social launch was on national news and a bunch of high-profile EU politicians immediately joined. What's going on here?

Europe's W Social Bet Tests its Vision of Digital Sovereignty

The European Commission has joined W Social, a closed-source platform. Megan Kirkwood asks what that reveals about Europe's digital sovereignty agenda.

W-Social: What does sovereignty mean for social media? – Open Future

The European Commission’s move to W-Social frames it as a European alternative to X, but its closed-source code and reliance on Bluesky’s infrastructure show that sovereign social media requires open infrastructure—not European ownership alone.

Commission accused of promoting European social media platform | Euractiv

The Commission announced it will join W social during its beta launch

Commission accused of promoting European social media platform | Euractiv

The Commission announced it will join W social during its beta launch

Elena Rossini 🌈 (@_elena@mastodon.social)

#WSocial will open up their beta program today… and I have a SCOOP for you: it appears that they have quietly gone closed-source! This is ironic, considering that the @EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu just unveiled their Tech Sovereignty Package, emphasizing the importance of #OpenSource. And yet they have migrated their main ATproto accounts to W Social - whose code can no longer be inspected! My full article - with a great analysis by @aral@mastodon.ar.al: 🔗: https://blog.elenarossini.com/w-social-public-institutions-and-the-theater-of-european-digital-sovereignty/ #FOSS #DigitalSovereignty #BigTech

W Social, Public Institutions and the Theater of European Digital Sovereignty

European public institutions are betting big on digital sovereignty and open source software. And yet they recently moved their Bluesky accounts to W Social, a private, for profit network owned by Swedish entrepreneurs that has quietly gone closed-source.

W Social: Hello World!

It appears the w-social client has gone closed source. Any comment on this @janlindblad.bsky.social ? The article linked therein also poses another important question: Are all the components in W Social’s ATproto stack self-hosted in Europe? So, not just the PDS, but also the relay, AppView and moderation.

is w for winning?

A playful, comparison of W Social’s size against the staff numbers of EU institutions (data via Wikidata).

After Eurosky: W Social connects social network for Europe to Bluesky technology

Bluesky's AT protocol forms the basis for an increasing number of social services. Now W Social aims to establish a European network for verified users.

Fact check: Is the EU launching a social media platform called 'W'?

Viral posts claiming the EU is launching its own social media platform to counter X, in the wake of various scandals, are misleading.

W Social is TruthSocial with a European accent. - We Can Just Do Things

Different politics, identical structure: wealthy insiders, community infrastructure they didn't build, and openness performed just long enough to matter. The establishment always wants its own internet.