Really important to notice the sleight of hand here. Nobody reported that @wsocial.eu *leaked* the data (except for W Social saying in their denials that others reported this). We all agree this over-publication was done on purpose, by design, in a way that is not totally clear to everyday users.
heiseonline
Das soziale Netz W Social will sich mit einer Verifizierung aller Konten von der Konkurrenz abheben. Dass einige gesammelte Daten publik sind, sei kein Fehler. #Social Media
Oct 14, 2026 at 11:39 AM
W Social (@wsocial.eu)
This is not a leak. It is public information all our users have given consent when they verified
W Social (@wsocial.eu)
As we have communicated. We did the update on Septemebr 17th. Now a question back to you @wdonthavetime.selfhosted.social Who have funded you and what is your connection to other PDS operators? What is your motive to create a site framing public information as a "data-leak" what's your motive?
Elena Rossini 🌈 (@_elena@mastodon.social)
Attached: 1 image This was definitely NOT on my bingo card for this year: European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen taking a moment between G7 meetings to promote the launch of the closed-source, for-profit network #WSocial. 🔗 : https://web.archive.org/web/20260617083436/https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rentzhog_kind-of-cool-to-see-ursula-von-der-leyen-ugcPost-7472769475885461504-hwct/ I fear this may be a harbinger of things to come: MANDATORY AGE VERIFICATION for social media across Europe. I hope I'm wrong on this. #privacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #EUBigTech
2021 Facebook leak
In 2021, an internal document leak from Facebook (now Meta Platforms, or Meta) showed it was aware of harmful societal effects from its platforms, yet persisted in prioritizing profit over addressing these harms. The leak, released by whistleblower Frances Haugen, resulted in reporting from The Wall Street Journal in September, as The Facebook Files series from journalist Jeff Horwitz, as well as the Facebook Papers, by a consortium of news outlets the next months.
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
Facebook Data Privacy Scandal: A Cheat Sheet - TechRepublic
Read about the saga of Facebook's failures in ensuring privacy for user data, including how it relates to Cambridge Analytica, the GDPR, the Brexit campaign, and the 2016 US presidential election.
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.
Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂ (@elena@aseachange.com)
[1 media attachment] #WSocial state of the network - September 15th, 2026 There is a lot of misinformation regarding W Social and how active/successful it is. So, from time to time, I'd love to share some numbers. The beauty of #opendata! The network endorsed by the #EuropeanCommission may be the darling of Brussels political circles and European media organizations (who simply rehash PR talking points). But the look behind the curtain is really troubling. As @pallenberg often says, this network is #DOA (dead on arrival). A social media graveyard, or rather, a simple moribund database. There is no way that Zeiter, Rentzhog & co. can start monetizing it in 2027. Numbers from this morning at 10:30am: - Accounts on their PDS: 37,531 - Users with verified ID: 7,492 - Users with 1+ post: 3,388 - Users who have never posted: 34,143 - Users with 0 posts and who follow 0 accounts: 26,444 - % of users with 0 posts, who follow 0 accounts: 70,4% - % of users who have never posted: 90,97% So, whenever you hear someone hyping it up, feel free to forward this post or point people to my articles at https://blog.elenarossini.com/tag/w-social/ The one thing I will give W credit for though is how good they are at lobbying and hyping up their image. While this playbook may have worked in the past, not anymore. On an open network, with open data, it's child's play to expose misrepresentations and show the real, raw data. sources: pdsls.dev, clearsky.app, atproto.at and the csv of their full PDS that I download daily 💁♀️
LATEST: on #WSocial's website, comment counts for posts by prominent users are incorrectly displayed, showing artificially elevated numbers. @opfuchs.gay came up with an interesting theory for it. "W Social, Fictional Metrics and the Beauty of Open Data": blog.elenarossini.com/w-social-fictional-metrics-an…
W Social, Fictional Metrics and the Beauty of Open Data
blog.elenarossini.com@palle.eurosky.social just published a powerful exposé about the #WSocial "it's not a leak if we intentionally publish it" ID data controversy. I highly recommend you read it (it's in German, but you could use your browser's translation tool): metacheles.de/w-social-datenskandal/ #WIdentity #GDPR
W Social: Verifiziert heisst veroeffentlicht
www.metacheles.de@london.gov.uk is still on wsocial.news and is still not actually on W Social. It’s been long enough to really make it look like it could be the Greta Thunberg thing all over again Sources: pdsls.dev/at://did:plc:axuvbckddrg7lwlp… blog.elenarossini.com/the-untold-story-about-w-soci…
あ
Mayor Sadiq Khan, the first account shown on W Social’s promotional website, isn’t even on W Social (yet)
Have you been Wned? W Social says it respects your #privacy. But how much of your personally identifiable information is published by them to the open web for anyone to find? wdonthavetime.tngl.io/wsocial-wned/ #WSocialFacts #WSocial
Have you been Wned: Has W Social made your personal information public?
wdonthavetime.tngl.io@london.gov.uk is still on wsocial.news and is still not actually on W Social. It’s been long enough to really make it look like it could be the Greta Thunberg thing all over again Sources: pdsls.dev/at://did:plc:axuvbckddrg7lwlp… blog.elenarossini.com/the-untold-story-about-w-soci…
あ
Mayor Sadiq Khan, the first account shown on W Social’s promotional website, isn’t even on W Social (yet)
As we have communicated. We did the update on Septemebr 17th. Now a question back to you @wdonthavetime.selfhosted.social Who have funded you and what is your connection to other PDS operators? What is your motive to create a site framing public information as a "data-leak" what's your motive?
This is our blog article explaining why @leafplaza.eu filed a complaint against the @ec.europa.eu after their public endorsement of @wsocial.eu and missing transparency in the process. We hope @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu takes this matter seriously. leafplaza.leaflet.pub/3moxlxlfl2s2a
LeafPlaza filed a complaint against the European Commission. Here is why.
leafplaza.leaflet.pub
LeafPlaza • EU-sovereign social platform compatible with the ATP
@leafplaza.eu just presented an official complain. Also, setup a whole chain of official follow ups on this complain. We know our rights, no other European ATP project has been giving the advantage W Social received and that goes against Commission Decision (EU) 2024/3083 - Art. 4.
