W Social Netzwerk: Fake-Zahlen, Rassismus und Totenstille!
Was ein Absturz! Als (weitere) Twitter-Alternative aus Europa mit viel medialem TamTam gestartet, zeigt W Social was passiert, wenn Social Media-Hobbyisten meinen eine Plattform gruenden zu muessen. Gefakete Engagement-Zahoen, Blocklisten gegen LGBTQ-Accounts, Remigrations-Grafiken von Neonazis und all dies wird noch von der Fuehrungsriege unterstuetzt. Willkommen
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We believe in the need for a global, trusted social media platform owned, run, and hosted in Europe. W is built on verified human users, transparency, privacy, and free speech.
W Social is a textbook case for everything wrong with digital sovereignty
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. This saying is attributed to the famous socialist (and theoretical physicist) Albert Einstein but actually traces back to novelist Rita Mae Brown. I have been thinking about this saying a lot lately. The reason is
Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂ (@elena@aseachange.com)
[3 media attachments] Dear friends, Please gather around for a long post about #WSocial and how they are responding to critiques. I have noticed a trend: W Social leaders and staunch supporters are describing any critical posts about the company as "targeted disinformation." Its CEO said they will soon have a technical solution in place for this. Oh?!? 🔗: https://mu.social/profile/anna.wsocial.eu/post/3mtqufy6g4s2r I suppose the "targeted disinformation" claims are about recent posts by the likes of me and @pallenberg about troubling hate speech that is allowed on W Social. Claims backed by hard evidence, in the form of screenshots and video captures. (I am increasingly doing screen recordings of problematic posts and interactions by W Social people because they have a tendency to delete evidence - like an infamous comment on a video by the Instutute for Remigration). ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ Discrediting sources, renaming evidence as "disinformation" and creating a victim narrative has a long, storied history. ⬆️ ⬆️ ⬆️ But I'm digressing. I speak up about W Social because: - Mainstream media runs PR fluff about them; - Horrid hate speech on the platform is completely unmoderated. W Social is currently showing the limits of free speech absolutism. Its CEO wrote: "We don’t need W to become another echo chamber." Reminds you of something? Atmosphere user @echna.bsky.social astutely remarked that "W Social is on an X speedrun, without ever having been like Twitter." 🔗: https://mu.social/profile/echna.bsky.social/post/3mtqlknzork2t Bluesky, #Blacksky, and #Northsky have mechanisms in place to report hate speech - and I am super thankful for that. As of today, I cannot report to W Social posts by their users that contain hate speech. The W Social moderation list's only purpose is to make a distinction between verified users and bots. Compare it with Blacksky's moderation list and be amazed (see screenshots). What's the big deal about the lack of content moder…
Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂ (@elena@aseachange.com)
[1 media attachment] Good morning Fedi friends. Is anybody curious about how the #WSocial experiment is going? You know, the private, for profit "European answer to X" endorsed by the European Commission, which is a fork of Bluesky and has quietly gone closed-source before its beta launch (à la #TruthSocial)? I've got numbers for you! Nearly two months in, W Social has almost the same number of accounts as #Eurosky... You know, the European fork of Bluesky that does NOT require government IDs to post. W Social: 23.5k accounts Eurosky: 24.8k accounts In order to post on W Social you need to provide your government ID and go through a 13-step verification process. So far 4.5k accounts are verified but only 2036 (as of this morning) have ever published a single post or reply. There is a handy website - https://pdsls.dev - that allows you to monitor the "firehose" of any ATproto-powered PDS. Inspired by @pallenberg and his awesome videos (example: https://mu.social/profile/palle.eurosky.social/post/3mskkqrrc522l) I have been comparing the live activities of the two networks. The difference is SHOCKING. W Social is largely a zombie, dormant network, with a high number of accounts that do not interact. Eurosky by contrast shows very lively activity. The screenshot I grabbed yesterday shows a side-by-side comparison of their firehose over a 27 minute period. W Social had a total of 240 events (follows, likes, posts...) whereas Eurosky registered 7596 events in the same time interval. A couple of days ago I downloaded their PDS and saw that 67,8% of their accounts have 0 follows, 0 followers and 0 posts. That's what I mean when I call it a "zombie network." W Social's CEO says they plan to start monetizing by introducing ads in 2027. WITH THESE NUMBERS?!? Sure Jan. I love how with the transparency of open data you can't really use the standard playbook of CEO hype and hubris. Because we can all see their numbers. And they are BAAAAD. I have been feeling…
WSocial Erfahrungen, Hilfe und Tipps | Facebook
Hier möchten wir den neuen Messenger (?) WSocial unterstützen und Hilfe bei Problemen geben.
W Social Isn't New. It Isn't Truly European. It Isn't Even Theirs. - Ewan’s Blog
Another rant on this “European” alternative
Musk Threatened the EU, Europe Built Its X Rival in 6 Months!
Collection
Updated 9h
This is a rough draft of a thought, but my sense of #WSocial is that it is an attempt to enclose the commons. By cultivating the idea that WSocial is only humans and bots are the primary drivers of mis/disinformation, they're establishing a framework which accomplishes two things:
Elena Rossini ⁂
Some thoughts on #WSocial, how they have been responding to criticism and why I believe they are showing the limits of free speech absolutism. I agree with @echna.bsky.social that "W Social seems to be on an X speedrun - without ever having been like Twitter." 🔗: aseachange.com/@elena/statuses/01M0SDV98GRDW…
We have exciting news: the 🇪🇺 State of the Union speech will be broadcast live on W. And there’s more coming around live video on W. 👀 Stay tuned!
European Commission
Another year, another chapter in Europe’s history. Save the date for the State of the European Union on 16 September 2026. President Ursula von der Leyen will deliver her annual address to Europe, setting out priorities for the year ahead.
Some W users experienced problems today because W was relying on Bluesky’s AppView. When their AppView went down, parts of W went down with it. Our own AppView was already under development and it kept working. So we’ve now switched W over to our own AppView, currently serving verified users only.
Even as @wsocial.eu onboards more and more users, they can’t seem to get them to talk to each other 🤐 This atrocious engagement rate (~9%) for users on the W PDS has been steady as a rock since day 1 (here you can see it in the daily totals and percentages). #WhosThereSocial
Elena Rossini ⁂
How is this possible? #WSocial hosts 26k accounts but only 5.4k have provided ID verification (and thus can post). Of those, only 2450 people (as of this AM) have EVER published a SINGLE post or reply. By comparison, on Eurosky (26k accounts) EVERYONE can post. No ID required #WSocialPics
Update: The external AppView is stable again, so W has switched back. All AT Protocol users are now visible again. Our own AppView worked well as a fallback, but currently only includes W and verified users. In the future, you’ll be able to choose which AppView to use. Thanks for your patience.
Just because I comment, like or share content on W doesn’t mean I endorse a particular political position. I want W to be a place for open, fair and unbiased debate where different perspectives can be heard and challenged. Everyone is welcome on W. We need more dialogue and less polarization.❤️
Lately I have noticed anti-immigrant rhetoric from #WSocial users - as well as posts containing hate speech that are NOT moderated. Thankfully I subscribe to @blackskyweb.xyz moderation and I want to thank @jdot.blacksky.team and his team for labeling one of the worst W accounts. #WSocialPics
I wish the Atmosphere had content warnings (like on the fediverse)... because I'd like to show you the limits of free speech absolutism and the kind of content that is allowed on #WSocial: blatant racism, xenophobia and transphobia. X vibes... but hey, it's "hosted in Europe" 😒
🧵 8 days ago she replied to a post from @tomoushie.wsocial.eu who constanly spreads hate against immigrants on #wsocial She even added @mikko.wsocial.eu raving about this visual? Who's Mikko? He's Apples Director for Privacy im EMEIA! But it gets worse...
