Do you remember the surprise announcement of a new social network in Davos this past January? Something that promised to be the "first" European social network? Its name is #WSocial and it's a fork of #Bluesky. Its founders have ties with European politicians - but there is no official involvement by the EU. You wouldn't know any of this from media reports because they all rehashed their talking points. So I wrote a post about it, dispelling some myths: https://blog.elenarossini.com/w-social-uncovered-the-reality-behind-the-hype/ #OpenWashing
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 | 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?
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.
Musk Threatened the EU, Europe Built Its X Rival in 6 Months!
W Social uncovered: the reality behind the hype
An article dispelling myths about W Social, the new European platform that aims to rival X: it is a fork of Bluesky that shares many similarities with Eurosky and requires government ID to sign up.
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.
W Social: Hello World!
Hello World! 🙂 This category is for discussing W Social, a new member on the AT-protocol federation. Launched in conjunction with the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 19, 2026, the project has sparked a lot of praise, interest, rumors and slander. In fact, our social media monitoring console registered 1 billion post views (across all the main social media) for posts mentioning #wsocial within the first week. As I write this, W Social is not yet open for business. There i...
Eurosky dawns – Open Future
The Eurosky initiative is building European social media infrastructure on the ATProtocol, representing a new step in Europe's digital sovereignty agenda as policymakers seek alternatives to Big Tech platforms that serve public interest rather than commercial imperatives.
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.
Elena Rossini 🌈 (@_elena@mastodon.social)
Attached: 2 images Dear Fedi friends, Apologies for another toot about #WSocial but I am genuinely shaking right now. The @EUCommission@ec.social-network.europa.eu and its president Ursula von der Leyen have recently migrated their ATproto (Bluesky) accounts to W Social. I cannot fathom why they would pick a private enterprise whose leaders didn't even have ATproto accounts 3 months ago... and who are so open to having their users' data mined to train European AI models. My articles on them: 🔗 : https://blog.elenarossini.com/tag/w-social/ Wow. Just wow.
Elena Rossini 🌈 (@_elena@mastodon.social)
📝 #WSocial state of the network 📣 for those who are curious about it, considering the enthusiastic endorsement by prestigious European institutions. #OpenData allows me to crunch numbers (information about Bluesky PDSs is readily available). On day 18 since its beta launch in Brussels, W Social has 7935 accounts: - 90,5% have never* published a single post - 82,2% have 0 followers - 78% follow 0 accounts (may be related to #WIdentity and its 13-step process) LMK if you find this useful
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
W Social – Public Beta Launch
W Social Isn't New. It Isn't Truly European. It Isn't Even Theirs. - Ewan’s Blog
Another rant on this “European” alternative
I get the impression that the people at @wsocial.eu haven’t grasped the principle of a free and open social network protocol. They look a bit like venture capitalists turning up at Wikipedia and wondering how they can make a fortune there. Poke @anna.wsocial.eu
I get the impression that the people at @wsocial.eu haven’t grasped the principle of a free and open social network protocol. They look a bit like venture capitalists turning up at Wikipedia and wondering how they can make a fortune there. Poke @anna.wsocial.eu
