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

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?

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

EU praises open source for tech sovereignty — then backs W, a private for-profit microblogging platform

To fundamentally understand why it's strange the EU Commission is throwing its weight behind this new for-profit social platform, you need to understand what lies beneath.

EU praises open source for tech sovereignty — then backs W, a private for-profit microblogging platform

To fundamentally understand why it's strange the EU Commission is throwing its weight behind this new for-profit social platform, you need to understand what lies beneath.

“European public voices choosing W” —But are they? - aiueo

More accounts that are being used to sell W Social when they aren’t even really there

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

Another rant on this “European” alternative

Alexandre Plennevaux 🇧🇪🇪🇺 (@pixeline.be)

Interesting point: "The only way to make sense of the European Commission's embrace of WSocial is that maybe it sees it as a trial run for MANDATORY age verification for social media across the European Union." @elenarossini.com